Though Farragut resided in Norfolk, Virginia prior to the Civil War, he strongly opposed secession and remained loyal to the Union after the outbreak of the Civil War, despite some doubts about Farragut's loyalty, Farragut was assigned command of an attack on the important Confederate port city of New Orleans. After fighting past Fort St. Philip and Fort Jackson, Farragut captured New Orleans in April 1862, he was promoted to rear admiral after the battle and helped extend Union control up along the Mississippi River, participating in the Siege of Port Hudson. With the Union in control of the Mississippi, Farragut led a successful attack on Mobile Bay, home to the last major Confederate port on the Gulf of Mexico. Farragut was promoted to Admiral following the end of the Civil War and remained on active duty until his death in 1870.

His father operated the ferry and also served as a cavalry officer in the Tennessee militia.[6] Jordi Farragut, son of Antoni Farragut and Joana Mesquida, became a Spanish merchant captain from Menorca, he joined the American Revolutionary cause after arriving in America in 1766, when he changed his first name to George.[10] George was a naval lieutenant during the Revolutionary War, serving first with the South Carolina Navy then the Continental Naval forces. George and Elizabeth had moved west to Tennessee after his service in the American Revolution.

In 1805, George Farragut accepted a position at the U.S. port of New Orleans. He traveled there first and his family followed, in a 1,700-mile (2,700 km) flatboat adventure aided by hired rivermen, the then four-year-old Farragut's first voyage. The family was still living in New Orleans when Elizabeth died of yellow fever, his father made plans to place the young children with friends and family who could better care for them.

David's birth name was James; in 1808, after his mother's death, he agreed to live with David Porter, a naval officer whose father had been friends with James's father,[11] as Porter's foster son. In 1812, James adopted the name "David" in honor of his foster father, with whom he went to sea late in 1810. David Farragut grew up in a naval family, as the foster brother of future Civil War admiral, David Dixon Porter, and CommodoreWilliam D. Porter.

David Farragut's naval career began as a midshipman when he was nine years old, and continued for 60 years until his death at the age of 69, this included service in several wars, most notably during the American Civil War, where he gained fame for winning several decisive naval battles.

Through the influence of his adoptive father, Farragut was commissioned a midshipman in the United States Navy on December 17, 1810, at the age of nine.[12][note 1] A prize master by the age of 12, Farragut fought in the War of 1812, serving under Captain David Porter. While serving aboard USS Essex, Farragut participated in the capture of HMS Alert on August 13, 1812,[13][14] then helped to establish America's first naval base and colony in the Pacific, named Fort Madison, during the ill-fated Nuku Hiva Campaign. At the same time, the Americans battled the hostile tribes on the islands with the help of their Te I'i allies.

Farragut was 12 years old when, during the War of 1812, he was given the assignment to bring a ship captured by the Essex safely to port,[15] he was wounded and captured while serving on the Essex during the engagement at Valparaíso Bay, Chile, against the British on March 28, 1814.[16]

Farragut was promoted to lieutenant in 1822, during the operations against West Indianpirates; in 1824, he was placed in command of USS Ferret, which was his first command of a U.S. naval vessel.[17] He served in the Mosquito Fleet, a fleet of ships fitted out to fight pirates in the Caribbean Sea, after learning his old captain, Commodore Porter, would be commander of the fleet, he asked for, and received, orders to serve aboard Greyhound, one of the smaller vessels, commanded by John Porter, brother of David Porter. On February 14, 1823, the fleet set sail for the West Indies where, for the next six months, they would drive the pirates off the sea, and rout them from their hiding places in among the islands,[18] he was executive officer aboard the Experiment during its campaign in the West Indies fighting pirates.[19]

In 1847, Farragut, now a commander, took command of the sloop-of-warUSS Saratoga when she was recommissioned at Norfolk Navy Yard in Norfolk, Virginia. Assigned to the Home Squadron for service in the Mexican–American War, Saratoga departed Norfolk on March 29, 1847 bound for the Gulf of Mexico under Farragut's command and upon arriving off Veracruz, Mexico, on April 26, 1847 reported to the squadron's commander, CommodoreMatthew C. Perry, for duty. On April 29, Perry ordered Farragut to sail Saratoga 150 nautical miles (173 miles; 278 km) to the north to blockadeTuxpan, where she operated from April 30 to July 12 before Farragut returned to Veracruz. About two weeks later, Farragut began a round-trip voyage to carry dispatches to Tabasco, returning to Veracruz on August 11, 1847, on September 1, 1847, Farragut and Saratoga returned to blockade duty off Tuxpan, remaining there for two months despite a yellow fever outbreak on board. Farragut then brought the ship back to Veracruz and, after a month there, got underway for the Pensacola Navy Yard in Pensacola, Florida, where Saratoga arrived on January 6, 1848, disembarked all of her seriously sick patients at the base hospital, and replenished her stores. On January 31, 1848, Farragut took the ship out of Pensacola bound for New York City, arriving there on February 19. Saratoga was decommissioned there on February 26, 1848.[20]

In 1853, Secretary of the NavyJames C. Dobbin selected Commander David G. Farragut to create Mare Island Navy Yard near San Francisco in San Pablo Bay; in August 1854, Farragut was called to Washington from his post as assistant inspector of ordnance at Norfolk, Virginia. President Franklin Pierce congratulated Farragut on his naval career and the task he was to undertake, on September 16, 1854, Commander Farragut arrived to oversee the building of the Mare Island Navy Yard at Vallejo, California, which became the port for ship repairs on the West Coast. Captain Farragut commissioned Mare Island on July 16, 1858. Farragut returned to a hero's welcome at Mare Island on August 11, 1859.[21][22]

Though living in Norfolk, Virginia prior to the American Civil War, Farragut made it clear to all who knew him that he regarded secession as treason. Just before the war's outbreak, Farragut moved with his Virginian-born wife to Hastings-on-Hudson, a small town just outside New York City.[9][23]

He offered his services to the Union, and was initially given a seat on the Naval Retirement Board. Offered a command by his foster brother, David Dixon Porter, for a special assignment, he hesitated upon learning the target might be Norfolk, as he had friends and relatives living there, he was relieved to learn the target was changed to his former childhood home of New Orleans. The navy had some doubts about Farragut's loyalty to the Union because of his Southern birth as well as that of his wife. Porter argued on his behalf, and Farragut was accepted for the major role of attacking New Orleans.[23]

Farragut was appointed under secret instructions on February 3, 1862, to command the Gulf Blockading Squadron, sailing from Hampton Roads on the screw steamerUSS Hartford, bearing 25 guns, which he made his flagship, accompanied by a fleet of 17 ships. He reached the mouth of the Mississippi River, near Confederate forts St. Philip and Jackson, situated opposite one another along the banks of the river, with a combined armament of more than 100 heavy guns and a complement of 700 men. Now aware of Farragut's approach, the Confederates had amassed a fleet of 16 gunboats just outside New Orleans.[24]

On April 18, Farragut ordered the mortar boats, under the command of Porter, to commence bombardment on the two forts, inflicting considerable damage, but not enough to compel the Confederates into surrender, after two days of heavy bombardment, Farragut ran past forts Jackson and St. Philip and the Chalmette batteries to take the city and port of New Orleans on April 29, a decisive event in the war.[25]

Congress honored him by creating the rank of rear admiral on July 16, 1862, a rank never before used in the U.S. Navy, before this time, the American Navy had resisted the rank of admiral, preferring the term "flag officer", to distinguish the rank from the traditions of the European navies.

While an aggressive commander, Farragut was not always cooperative, at the Siege of Port Hudson, the plan was that Farragut's flotilla would pass by the guns of the Confederate stronghold with the help of a diversionary land attack by the Army of the Gulf, commanded by General Nathaniel Banks, to commence at 8:00 a.m. on March 15, 1863. Farragut unilaterally decided to move the timetable up to 9:00 p.m. on March 14, and initiated his run past the guns before Union ground forces were in position. The consequently uncoordinated attack allowed the Confederates to concentrate on Farragut's flotilla and inflict heavy damage to his warships.

Farragut on board Hartford

Farragut's battle group was forced to retreat with only two ships able to pass the heavy cannon of the Confederate bastion, after surviving the gauntlet, Farragut played no further part in the battle for Port Hudson, and General Banks was left to continue the siege without the advantage of naval support. The Union Army made two major attacks on the fort; both were repulsed with heavy losses. Farragut's flotilla was splintered, yet was able to blockade the mouth of the Red River with the two remaining warships; he could not efficiently patrol the section of the Mississippi between Port Hudson and Vicksburg. Farragut's decision proved costly to the Union Navy and the Union Army, which suffered its highest casualty rate of the war at Port Hudson.

Vicksburg surrendered on July 4, 1863, leaving Port Hudson as the last remaining Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River. General Banks accepted the surrender of the Confederate garrison at Port Hudson on July 9, ending the longest siege in U.S. military history. Control of the Mississippi River was the centerpiece of the Union strategy to win the war, and, with the surrender of Port Hudson, the Confederacy was now cut in two.

On August 5, 1864, Farragut won a great victory in the Battle of Mobile Bay. Mobile, Alabama, was then the Confederacy's last major open port on the Gulf of Mexico. The bay was heavily mined (tethered naval mines were then known as "torpedoes").[26] Farragut ordered his fleet to charge the bay. When the monitor USS Tecumseh struck a mine and sank, the others began to pull back.

Admiral David Farragut and General Gordon Granger

Farragut could see the ships pulling back from his high perch, where he was lashed to the rigging of his flagship, USS Hartford. "What's the trouble?", he shouted through a trumpet to USS Brooklyn. "Torpedoes", was the shouted reply. "Damn the torpedoes.", said Farragut, "Four bells, Captain Drayton, go ahead. Jouett, full speed."[27][28] The bulk of the fleet succeeded in entering the bay. Farragut triumphed over the opposition of heavy batteries in Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines to defeat the squadron of Admiral Franklin Buchanan.

After the Civil War, Farragut was elected a companion of the first class of the New York Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States on March 18, 1866 and assigned insignia number 231. He served as the commander of the Commandery of New York from May 1866 to until his death.

Farragut was promoted to full admiral on July 25, 1866, becoming the first U.S. Naval officer to hold that rank.[6]

After appointment and an initial cruise as acting lieutenant commanding USS Ferret, Farragut married Susan Caroline Marchant on September 2, 1824.[31] After years of ill-health, Susan Farragut died on December 27, 1840. Farragut was noted for his kindly treatment of his wife during her illness.[32]

After the death of his first wife, Farragut married Virginia Dorcas Loyall, on December 26, 1843, with whom he had one surviving son, named Loyall Farragut, born October 12, 1844. Loyall Farragut graduated from West Point in 1868, and served as a second lieutenant in the US Army before resigning in 1872. He spent most of the remainder of his career as an executive with the Central Railroad Company of New Jersey, he died in 1916.[33]

Few naval officers in American history have been honored on a U.S. postage stamp, but David Farragut has been so honored more than once. The first postage stamp (at left) to honor Farragut was the 1-dollar black issue of 1903, the Navy Issue of 1937 includes (among five in a series) a 3-cent purple stamp which depicts Admirals David Farragut (left) and David Porter, with a warship under sail displayed at center. The most recent postage issue honoring Farragut was released from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on June 29, 1995.[35][36]

Issue of 1903
First U.S. Postage stamp to honor Admiral Farragut

Navy Issue of 1937
Farragut honored along with Porter, his foster brother

Farragut, Tennessee, Admiral Farragut's hometown of Campbell's Station (see Battle of Campbell's Station), Tennessee, was renamed Farragut when it became incorporated in 1982. Admiral Farragut was actually born at Lowe's Ferry on the Holston (now Tennessee) River a few miles southeast of the town, but at that time Campbell's Station was the nearest settlement.

Farragut High School was built at Admiral Farragut's home town of Campbell's Station (now Farragut) in 1904. Today Farragut High School, boasting nearly 2,500 students, is one of the largest schools in Tennessee, the school's colors are blue and white, and its sporting teams are known as "The Admirals".

Farragut Career Academy in Chicago, Illinois is a high school in the Chicago Public Schools system that was founded in 1894; its sporting teams are also known as the Admirals. The school displays an oil painting of the admiral, presented to the school by the Farragut Post of the Grand Army of the Republic in 1896. NBA star Kevin Garnett attended Farragut Career Academy. Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak is also a prominent alum.

Farragut, Iowa is a small farming town in southwestern Iowa. Admiral Farragut's famous slogan greets visitors from a billboard on the edge of town, the local school, Farragut Community High School, fields varsity "Admiral" and JV "Sailor" teams. The school also houses memorabilia from the ships that have borne the Farragut name.

Three U.S. postage stamps: the $1 stamp of 1903, the $0.03 stamp with Admiral David Porter in 1937 and a $0.32 stamp in 1995.

100-dollar Treasury notes, also called coin notes, of the Series 1890 and 1891, feature portraits of Farragut on the obverse. The 1890 Series note is called a $100 Watermelon Note by collectors, because the large zeroes on the reverse resemble the pattern on a watermelon.

A stained glass window in the United States Naval Academy Chapel depicts Farragut in the rigging of USS Hartford at Mobile Bay.

Farragut is mentioned in The Wild Wild West episode "The Night of the Kraken", although he does not appear. At the climax, the story's villains try to destroy Farragut's ship with a naval mine, but are foiled by the series' heroes.

1.
Farragut, Tennessee
–
Farragut is a town which straddles both Knox and Loudon counties in Tennessee. It is a suburb of Knoxville, the towns population was 20,676 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Knoxville Metropolitan Area, the town is named in honor of American Civil War Admiral David Farragut, who was born just east of Farragut at Campbells Station in 1801. The area was known as Campbell’s Station after a fort. The brick Campbells Station Inn was built in 1810 and still stands on Kingston Pike within sight of the Farragut Town Hall and it is still in use as a private residence. The Civil War Battle of Campbells Station was fought there on November 16,1863, the historic unincorporated village of Concord was founded in 1854 just east of what would become the eastern boundary of Farragut. Concord is located on the rail line to Atlanta and main channel of the Tennessee River. Picturesque buildings and antebellum homes sit along the river, as well as very old churches. The original Farragut High School was built by the community in 1904, some parts of Farragut are zoned for Hardin Valley Academy, built in 2008. On January 16,1980, Farragut incorporated as a town, mainly to avoid being annexed by Knoxville, the first mayor, Bob Leonard, was elected April 1,1980, along with four aldermen. Farragut is located at 35°52′39″N 84°10′25″W, according to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 16.2 square miles, of which 16.1 square miles is land and 0.2 square mile is water. Farragut is situated in an area between Blackoak Ridge to the north and the Tennessee River to the south. Its municipal area is located south of the merged Interstate 40/Interstate 75. Kingston Pike, a stretch of U. S. Route 70 and U. S. Route 11. Farragut borders Knoxville on the northeast, and the Knox County-Loudon County line forms most of its southwestern boundary, Concord lies immediately southeast of Farragut, and Hardin Valley lies opposite Blackoak Ridge to the north. The small community of Dixie Lee Junction lies along Kingston Pike, as of the census of 2000, there were 17,720 people,6,333 households, and 5,231 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,101.5 people per square mile, there were 6,628 housing units at an average density of 412.0 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 93. 88% White,1. 80% African American,0. 15% Native American,3. 16% Asian,0. 33% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 1. 07% of the population

2.
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
–
Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, in the United States. It is the city in the county, but only the fourth-largest community. The first known European to explore and write about the area was Martin Pring in 1603, the Piscataqua River is a tidal estuary with a swift current, but forms a good natural harbor. The west bank of the harbor was settled by English colonists in 1630 and named Strawbery Banke, the village was fortified by Fort William and Mary. Strategically located for trade between upstream industries and mercantile interests abroad, the port prospered, fishing, lumber and shipbuilding were principal businesses of the region. Enslaved Africans were imported as laborers as early as 1645 and were integral to building the citys prosperity, Portsmouth was part of the Triangle Trade, which made significant profits from slavery. At the towns incorporation in 1653, it was named Portsmouth in honor of the colonys founder and he had been captain of the port of Portsmouth, England, in the county of Hampshire, for which New Hampshire is named. In 1774, in the lead-up to the Revolution, Paul Revere rode to Portsmouth warning that the British were coming, although the harbor was protected by Fort William and Mary, the rebel government moved the capital inland to Exeter, safe from the Royal Navy. The Navy bombarded Falmouth on October 18,1775, African Americans helped defend Portsmouth and New England during the war. Their petition was not answered then, but New Hampshire later ended slavery, Thomas Jeffersons 1807 embargo against trade with Britain withered New Englands trade with Canada, and a number of local fortunes were lost. Others were gained by men who acted as privateers during the War of 1812, in 1849, Portsmouth was incorporated as a city. Once one of the nations busiest ports and shipbuilding cities, Portsmouth expressed its wealth in fine architecture and it contains significant examples of Colonial, Georgian, and Federal style houses, a selection of which are now museums. Portsmouths heart contains stately brick Federalist stores and townhouses, built all-of-a-piece after devastating early 19th-century fires, the worst was in 1813 when 244 buildings burned. A fire district was created that required all new buildings within its boundaries to be built of brick with slate roofs, the city was also noted for the production of boldly wood-veneered Federalist furniture, particularly by the master cabinet maker Langley Boardman. The Industrial Revolution spurred economic growth in New Hampshire mill towns such as Dover, Keene, Laconia, Manchester, Nashua and Rochester and it shifted growth to the new mill towns. The port of Portsmouth declined, but the city survived through Victorian-era doldrums, in the 20th century, the city founded a Historic District Commission, which has worked to protect much of the citys irreplaceable architectural legacy. In 2008, Portsmouth was named one of the Dozen Distinctive Destinations by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the compact and walkable downtown on the waterfront draws tourists and artists, who each summer throng the cafes, restaurants and shops around Market Square. Portsmouth annually celebrates the revitalization of its downtown with Market Square Day, Portsmouth shipbuilding history has had a long symbiotic relationship with Kittery, Maine, across the Piscataqua River

3.
Kittery, Maine
–
Kittery is a town in York County, Maine, United States. Home to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Seaveys Island, Kittery includes Badgers Island, the district of Kittery Point. The town is a tourist destination known for its outlet stores. Kittery is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area, the towns population was 9,490 at the 2010 census. English settlement around the harbor of the Piscataqua River estuary began about 1623. Kittery was incorporated in 1647, staking a claim as the oldest incorporated town in Maine. Though the municipalities of Portland and it was named after the birthplace of a founder, Alexander Shapleigh, from his manor of Kittery Court at Kingswear in Devon, England. Shapleigh arrived in 1635 aboard the ship Benediction, which he co-owned with another prominent settler, Captain Francis Champernowne, together with the Pepperrell family, they established fisheries offshore at the Isles of Shoals, where fish were caught, salted, and exported back to Europe. Other pioneers were hunters, trappers, and workers of the abundant timber. The settlement at the mouth of the Piscataqua River was protected by Fort McClary, thomas Spencer, Esquire, immigrant from Gloucestershire, England, is also a notable settler of Kittery with his wife Patience Chadbourne. Their story is included in, The Maine Spencers, a history and genealogy, Kittery originally extended from the Atlantic Ocean inland up the Salmon Falls River, including the present-day towns of Eliot, South Berwick, Berwick and North Berwick. Located opposite Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the town developed into a center for trade, after the death of Gorges, Maine in 1652 became part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Francis Small was a resident of Kittery, and operated a trading post near the confluence of the Ossipee River. Small became the largest property owner in the history of Maine, in 1663, John Josselyn would write, Towns there are, are not many in this province. Kittery, situated not far from Passacataway, is the most populous, in 1705, during Queen Annes War tribes of the Wabanaki Confederacy raided the town killing six citizens and taking five prisoners. During the Revolution, the first vessels of the U. S. Navy were constructed on Badgers Island, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, the nations first federal navy yard, was established in 1800 on Fernalds Island. It connects to the mainland by two bridges, the facility rebuilt the USS Constitution, and built the Civil War USS Kearsarge. Seaveys Island was annexed and became site of the now defunct Portsmouth Naval Prison, Kittery has some fine early architecture, including the Sir William Pepperrell House, built in 1733, and the Lady Pepperrell House, built in 1760. The John Bray House, built in 1662, is believed to be the oldest surviving house in Maine, located at the John Paul Jones State Historic Site on U. S.1 is the Maine Sailors and Soldiers Memorial by Bashka Paeff

4.
Bronx
–
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City, within the U. S. state of New York. Since 1914, the Bronx has had the boundaries as Bronx County, a county of New York. The Bronx is divided by the Bronx River into a section in the west, closer to Manhattan. East and west street addresses are divided by Jerome Avenue—the continuation of Manhattans Fifth Avenue, the West Bronx was annexed to New York City in 1874, and the areas east of the Bronx River in 1895. Bronx County was separated from New York County in 1914, about a quarter of the Bronxs area is open space, including Woodlawn Cemetery, Van Cortlandt Park, Pelham Bay Park, the New York Botanical Garden, and the Bronx Zoo in the boroughs north and center. These open spaces are situated primarily on land reserved in the late 19th century as urban development progressed north. The name Bronx originated with Jonas Bronck, who established the first settlement in the area as part of the New Netherland colony in 1639, the native Lenape were displaced after 1643 by settlers. This cultural mix has made the Bronx a wellspring of both Latin music and hip hop. The Bronx, particularly the South Bronx, saw a decline in population, livable housing, and the quality of life in the late 1960s. Since then the communities have shown significant redevelopment starting in the late 1980s before picking up pace from the 1990s until today, the Bronx was called Rananchqua by the native Siwanoy band of Lenape, while other Native Americans knew the Bronx as Keskeskeck. It was divided by the Aquahung River, the origin of Jonas Bronck is contested. Some sources claim he was a Swedish born emigrant from Komstad, Norra Ljunga parish in Småland, Sweden, who arrived in New Netherland during the spring of 1639. Bronck became the first recorded European settler in the now known as the Bronx and built a farm named Emmanus close to what today is the corner of Willis Avenue. He leased land from the Dutch West India Company on the neck of the mainland north of the Dutch settlement in Harlem. He eventually accumulated 500 acres between the Harlem River and the Aquahung, which known as Broncks River or the Bronx. Dutch and English settlers referred to the area as Broncks Land, the American poet William Bronk was a descendant of Pieter Bronck, either Jonas Broncks son or his younger brother. More recent research indicates that Pieter was probably Jonas nephew or cousin, the Bronx is referred to with the definite article as The Bronx, both legally and colloquially. The region was named after the Bronx River and first appeared in the Annexed District of The Bronx created in 1874 out of part of Westchester County

5.
United States
–
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci

6.
Union (American Civil War)
–
The Union was opposed by 11 southern slave states that formed the Confederate States, or the Confederacy. All of the Unions states provided soldiers for the U. S. Army, the Border states played a major role as a supply base for the Union invasion of the Confederacy. The Northeast provided the resources for a mechanized war producing large quantities of munitions and supplies. The Midwest provided soldiers, food, horses, financial support, Army hospitals were set up across the Union. Most states had Republican governors who energetically supported the war effort, the Democratic Party strongly supported the war in 1861 but in 1862 was split between the War Democrats and the anti-war element led by the Copperheads. The Democrats made major gains in 1862 in state elections. They lost ground in 1863, especially in Ohio, in 1864 the Republicans campaigned under the National Union Party banner, which attracted many War Democrats and soldiers and scored a landslide victory for Lincoln and his entire ticket. The war years were quite prosperous except where serious fighting and guerrilla warfare took place along the southern border, prosperity was stimulated by heavy government spending and the creation of an entirely new national banking system. The Union states invested a great deal of money and effort in organizing psychological and social support for soldiers wives, widows, orphans, and for the soldiers themselves. Most soldiers were volunteers, although after 1862 many volunteered to escape the draft, Draft resistance was notable in some larger cities, especially New York City with its massive anti-draft riots of 1863 and in some remote districts such as the coal mining areas of Pennsylvania. In the context of the American Civil War, the Union is sometimes referred to as the North, both then and now, as opposed to the Confederacy, which was the South. The Union never recognized the legitimacy of the Confederacys secession and maintained at all times that it remained entirely a part of the United States of America, in foreign affairs the Union was the only side recognized by all other nations, none of which officially recognized the Confederate government. The term Union occurs in the first governing document of the United States, the subsequent Constitution of 1787 was issued and ratified in the name not of the states, but of We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union. Union, for the United States of America, is repeated in such clauses as the Admission to the Union clause in Article IV. Even before the war started, the preserve the Union was commonplace. Using the term Union to apply to the non-secessionist side carried a connotation of legitimacy as the continuation of the political entity. In comparison to the Confederacy, the Union had a large industrialized and urbanized area, additionally, the Union states had a manpower advantage of 5 to 2 at the start of the war. Year by year, the Confederacy shrank and lost control of increasing quantities of resources, meanwhile, the Union turned its growing potential advantage into a much stronger military force

7.
United States Navy
–
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U. S. Navy is the largest, most capable navy in the world, the U. S. Navy has the worlds largest aircraft carrier fleet, with ten in service, two in the reserve fleet, and three new carriers under construction. The service has 323,792 personnel on duty and 108,515 in the Navy Reserve. It has 274 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 operational aircraft as of October 2016, the U. S. Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, which was established during the American Revolutionary War and was effectively disbanded as a separate entity shortly thereafter. It played a role in the American Civil War by blockading the Confederacy. It played the role in the World War II defeat of Imperial Japan. The 21st century U. S. Navy maintains a global presence, deploying in strength in such areas as the Western Pacific, the Mediterranean. The Navy is administratively managed by the Department of the Navy, the Department of the Navy is itself a division of the Department of Defense, which is headed by the Secretary of Defense. The Chief of Naval Operations is an admiral and the senior naval officer of the Department of the Navy. The CNO may not be the highest ranking officer in the armed forces if the Chairman or the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The mission of the Navy is to maintain, train and equip combat-ready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression, the United States Navy is a seaborne branch of the military of the United States. The Navys three primary areas of responsibility, The preparation of naval forces necessary for the prosecution of war. The development of aircraft, weapons, tactics, technique, organization, U. S. Navy training manuals state that the mission of the U. S. Armed Forces is to prepare and conduct prompt and sustained combat operations in support of the national interest, as part of that establishment, the U. S. Navys functions comprise sea control, power projection and nuclear deterrence, in addition to sealift duties. It follows then as certain as that night succeeds the day, that without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, the Navy was rooted in the colonial seafaring tradition, which produced a large community of sailors, captains, and shipbuilders. In the early stages of the American Revolutionary War, Massachusetts had its own Massachusetts Naval Militia, the establishment of a national navy was an issue of debate among the members of the Second Continental Congress. Supporters argued that a navy would protect shipping, defend the coast, detractors countered that challenging the British Royal Navy, then the worlds preeminent naval power, was a foolish undertaking. Commander in Chief George Washington resolved the debate when he commissioned the ocean-going schooner USS Hannah to interdict British merchant ships, and reported the captures to the Congress

8.
Union Navy
–
The Union Navy was the United States Navy during the American Civil War, when it fought the Confederate States Navy. The term is sometimes used carelessly to include vessels of war used on the rivers of the interior while they were under the control of the United States Army, the Confederates saw the U. S. as being opposed to slavery and thus, referred to them as abolitionists. Accordingly, the U. S. Navy was termed by them as being the Abolition fleet, the primary missions of the Union Navy were,1. Maintain the blockade of Confederate ports by restraining all blockade runners, declared by the President on April 19,1861, meet in combat the war vessels of the CSN. Carry the war to places in the states that were inaccessible to the Union Army. Support the Army by providing gunfire support and rapid transport and communications on the rivers of the interior. To accomplish these, the Union Navy had to undergo a profound transformation, during the war, sailing vessels were completely supplanted by ships propelled by steam for purposes of combat. Vessels of widely differing character were built from the keel up in response to problems they would encounter. Wooden hulls were at first protected by armor plating, and soon were replaced by iron or steel throughout, the institutional changes that were introduced during the war were equally significant. The Bureau of Steam Engineering was added to the bureau system, testimony to the U. S. Navys conversion from sail to steam. Most important from the standpoint of Army-Navy cooperation in joint operations, the establishment of the ranks of admirals implied also a change of naval doctrine, from one favoring single-ship operations to that of employing whole fleets. At the start of the war, the Union Navy had 42 ships in commission, another 48 were laid up and listed as available for service as soon as crews could be assembled and trained, but few were appropriate for the task at hand. Most were sailing vessels, some were hopelessly outdated, and one served on Lake Erie, during the course of the war, the number in commission was increased by more than a factor 15, so that at the end the U. S. Navy had 671 vessels. Even more significant than the increase in raw numbers was the variety of types that were represented. To confront the forms of combat that came about, the government developed a new type of warship. The U. S. Navy took over a class of armored river gunboats created for the U. S. Army, but designed by naval personnel, so-called double-enders were produced to maneuver in the confined waters of the rivers and harbors. The Union Navy experimented with submarines before the Confederacy produced its famed CSS Hunley, accordingly, at the end of the war, most of them were soon stricken from the service rather than being mothballed. The number of ships at sea fell back to its prewar level, the highest rank available to an American naval officer when the war began was that of captain

9.
Admiral (United States)
–
Admiral ranks above vice admiral and below fleet admiral in the Navy, the Coast Guard and the Public Health Service do not have an established grade above admiral. Admiral is equivalent to the rank of general in the uniformed services. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps has never had a hold the grade of admiral. However,37 U. S. C. §201 of the U. S. Code established the grade for the NOAA Corps in the case a position is created that merits the four-star grade. The United States Navy did not have any admirals until 1862 because many felt the title too reminiscent of royalty, such as the British Royal Navy. Others saw the need for ranks above captain, among them John Paul Jones and he also felt there must be ranks above captain to avoid disputes among senior captains. Two years later Congress authorized the appointment of an admiral from among the nine rear admirals. Another bill allowed the President of the United States to appoint Farragut to admiral on July 25,1866, when Farragut died in 1870, Porter became admiral and Stephen C. Rowan was promoted to vice admiral, there was one admiral in the interim, however. In 1899, Congress recognized George Deweys accomplishments during the Spanish–American War by authorizing the President to appoint him Admiral of the Navy and he held that rank until he died in 1917. Nobody has since held that title, in 1944, Congress approved the five-star grade of fleet admiral. The first to hold it were William D. Leahy, Ernest J. King, the Senate confirmed their appointments December 15,1944. Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey got his star in December 1945. The rear admiral got his two-inch stripe and one half-inch stripe in 1866, the sleeve stripes had been more elaborate. When the rear admiral rank started in 1862 the sleeve arrangement was three stripes of three-quarter-inch lace alternating with three stripes of quarter-inch lace and it was some ten inches from top to bottom. The vice admiral, of course, had even more stripes, on their dress uniforms the admirals wore bands of gold embroidery of live oak leaves and acorns. The admirals of the 1860s wore the number of stars on their shoulders as admirals of corresponding grades do today. During the 20th century, the ranks of the modern U. S. admiralty were firmly established, an oddity that did exist was that the navy did not have a one-star rank except briefly during World War II when Congress established a temporary war rank of commodore

10.
USS Ferret (1822)
–
It was the first U. S. naval ship commanded by the famous naval hero David Farragut. The financial losses to the United States was great while murder, losses to American ships and merchants had increased to such proportions that the situation began making headlines in American newspapers. In little time merchants and shippers along with the American public were demanding that the U. S. Navy take definite action against piracy that was out of control in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. In November 1822 when the captain of the USS Alligator was killed in a battle with the notorious Cuban pirate Domingo that was the last straw and they were also directed to suppress the international slave trade which also operated out of this region and outlawed in the United States. British interests in the Caribbean also threatened, the West Indies squadron fought piracy in an effort with the Royal Navy. Ferret was now part of the largest fleet of American naval ships ever to be assembled during peacetime, within two years piracy was subdued and within ten years, piracy in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico was all but eradicated completely. Ferret sailed from Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 14 February 1823, bound for the West Indies, and became part of the West Indies Squadron, also known as the Mosquito Fleet. The newly acquired schooners were armed with three guns and given the names USS Ferret, USS Beagle, USS Fox, USS Greyhound, USS Jackal, USS Terrier, USS Weasel. The first day out to sea the fleet encountered a gale forcing the fleet to hold up at the naval base at Key West. The Key West base was chosen as the base of operation because of its central location in pirate infested waters. Along with escorting merchantmen, Ferret engaged a pirate barge and seven boats in Bacuna Yeauga bay in Cuba on 18 June 1823, during the battle the vessel received a small boat hole at the water line by a buccaneers musket ball. Consequently Ferret had to break off the attack, since a high wind, seeking aid, Ferret retreated from the choppy coastal waters to the calmer waters of the open sea. The Ferret returned the day with a boat loaned by a nearby British ship. David Farragut, a Lieutenant, at the age of 23, was given command of the Ferret by Commodore Porter later in the summer of 1823, it was his first command of a naval ship. Under Farragut, the Ferret transported sailors, Marines and supplies into the points of operation along the north coast of Cuba. During a stopover at Nassau one of his crewmembers, a deserter from the Royal Navy, hitherto unknown by Farragut, when Farragut learned of the incident and not tolerating any such foreigners aboard a naval vessel he disciplined the sailor and turned him over to British authorities at Nassau. After Ferret departed Nassau Farragut soon received orders to sail north to Navy yard in Washington for repairs, supplies, sailors, under Farragut Ferret made two such trips. On 4 February 1825, the Ferret was under the command of Charles H. Bell, while patrolling the waters off the north shore of Cuba the Ferret capsized during a gale force storm and heavy seas, about 8 miles off the port of Canasi

11.
USS Saratoga (1842)
–
USS Saratoga, a sloop-of-war, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for the Battle of Saratoga of the American Revolutionary War. Her keel was laid down in the summer of 1841 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard and she was launched on 26 July 1842 and commissioned on 4 January 1843 with Commander Josiah Tattnall in command. The ship sailed from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on 16 March 1843 and she got underway again on 3 May and proceeded down the coast to New York Harbor to prepare for service in the Ivory Coast Expedition. On the morning of 5 June, she was towed to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, at mid-afternoon, the ship stood out to sea, proceeded via the Canary Islands and the Cape Verde Islands and reached Monrovia, Liberia, on 1 August. Saratoga operated along the coast of western Africa protecting American citizens and commerce and she occasionally returned to the Cape Verdes for replenishment and rest for her crew. At Porto Grande, Cape Verde, Saratoga rendezvoused with Decatur and Macedonian on 9 September, and Perry shifted his flag to the latter two days later. The new colony was deeply resented by the local, coastal tribes which had acted as the slave trades middlemen, buying slaves from their bushmen captors and selling them to masters of slave ships. Missing their former profits from the now outlawed commerce in black ivory, these natives gave vent to their anger by harassing, threatening, from time to time, they also preyed upon American merchant shipping. Reports greeted him upon arrival that the tribes had been making trouble for the colonists in the colony of Sinoe and had killed two sailors from American schooner, Edward Burley. Saratoga sailed from Monrovia on 21 November, and Perry followed two days later with the rest of the squadron bringing along as a guest Liberian Governor Joseph Jenkins Roberts, the American warships assembled at Sinoe on 28 November. The next day, a force of sailors and Marines accompanied the Commodore. First on the agenda was the Edward Burley incident, burke retaliated by capturing two canoes and taking their crews prisoner. Then he dispatched two of his own men after a canoe, but these sailors were themselves captured. After cruelly torturing the two Americans, they killed them, once he felt sure of the story, Perry held that, while the homicides were unjustified, the Americans had been the aggressors. He then dropped the matter, but remained in the area while Liberian colonists aided by friendly tribes drove trouble-making natives back into the hinterland. In mid-December, the sailed to Little Berebee to investigate the plundering of trading schooner, Mary Carver. During the ensuing palaver, when Perry refused to accept the explanation of King Ben Krako. The king and his interpreter, who was known to be one of the murderers, Commander Tattnall of Saratoga killed the interpreter with a rifle shot and the king was also killed in attempting to flee

12.
USS Brooklyn (1858)
–
USS Brooklyn was a sloop-of-war authorized by the U. S. Congress and commissioned in 1859. Brooklyn was active in Caribbean operations until the start of the American Civil War at which time she became a participant in the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America. Brooklyn also served gallantly attacking Confederate forts and other installations on the Mississippi River, post-war, Brooklyn remained active, serving for some years in the European theatre, as well as circumnavigating the globe. She was retired in 1889 and sold in 1890 after having served her country for over three decades. On February 5, Brooklyn got underway for a run to Beaufort, South Carolina. Following a weeks visit to that port, she headed for the West Indies to investigate conditions in Haiti where liberal forces had ousted Emperor Soulouque and installed Fabre Geffrard as President. Farragut found that the people of Haiti were delighted to be free of the rule of the former monarch. Upon the recommendation of the American consul, Farragut sailed for the Isthmus of Panama, after visiting Aspinwall, Brooklyn set a course for the Mexican coast and reached Veracruz early in April. The legal president of Mexico, Benito Juárez – who had driven from Mexico City by forces of General Miguel Miramón of the Clerical Party—was making that seaport his temporary capital. S. During part of the time the screw sloop of war lay off Veracruz, in July Brooklyn proceeded to Pensacola, Florida, for coal, provisions, and water, and she reached that port on the 15th. As soon as she finished replenishing, the returned to Veracruz. From there, she sailed for New York and reached the New York Navy Yard on the 26th of that month and she arrived at Veracruz on the 21st and remained in port while McLane negotiated an agreement with the Juárez Government. After the treaty was signed on December 12, she got underway again and proceeded to New Orleans, Louisiana, with her bunkers full once more, she headed down the Mississippi River on Christmas Eve and crossed the gulf to Veracruz. From New Orleans, Brooklyn proceeded to Pensacola to prepare for a return to Mexican waters, however, before McLane could get back to the Gulf Coast from Washington, orders reached Pensacola sending her north. She stood out to sea on February 19,1860 and reached New York City on the 27th, underway again on March 11, she arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, the following afternoon and there awaited McLane whom she embarked and delivered back to Veracruz on the 28th. The steamer operated along the Mexican coast through the spring and into the summer carrying McLane to various ports where he conferred with the American consuls, late in July she left the Mexican coast and returned to Norfolk early in August. There, she received orders to prepare for a voyage carrying members of an expedition to the Gulf of Mexico to find a route across the isthmus of Chiriqui. She sailed on the 13th and reached Chiriqui, Baca del Toro, Panama, but for a run to Aspinwall from September 12 to 17, she remained off the expedition base at Chiriqui until mid-October when she returned to Aspinwall

13.
Mare Island Naval Shipyard
–
The Mare Island Naval Shipyard was the first United States Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean. It is located 25 miles northeast of San Francisco in Vallejo, the Napa River goes through the Mare Island Strait and separates the peninsula shipyard from the main portion of the city of Vallejo. MINSY made a name for itself as the premier US West Coast submarine port as well as serving as the force in San Francisco Bay Area shipbuilding efforts during World War II. The base closed in 1996 and has gone through several redevelopment phases and it was registered as a California Historical Landmark in 1960, and parts of it were declared a National Historic Landmark District in 1975. They managed to survey the Mare Island Strait before steaming to Hawaii to obtain crewmen from Hawaiian monarch King Kamehameha III. They returned to San Francisco in the spring of 1850 with the survey of northern California beginning on April 4,1850. On August 1,1850, while still in Oregon, McArthur purchased a 1⁄16 interest in Mare Island for $468.50 then returned to San Francisco later that month to prepare charts, on January 15,1852, Secretary of the Navy Will A. Graham ordered a Naval Commission to select a site for a yard on the Pacific Coast. Commodore D. Sloat along with Commodore C, sanger were appointed to the commission. On July 13,1852, Sloat recommended the island across the Napa River from the settlement of Vallejo, the Navy purchased the original 956 acres of MINSY on January 4,1853. MINSY served as a major Pacific Ocean repair station during the late 19th century, handling American as well as Japanese, in 1861, the longest lived of the clipper ships, Syren, was brought to Mare Island Navy Yard for $15,000 of repairs. Syren had struck Mile Rock two times while trying to out of the Golden Gate. Marines first arrived for duty in 1862 under the command of Maj. Addison Garland, Mare Island Naval Shipyard also took a commanding role in civil defense and emergency response on the West Coast, dispatching warships to the Pacific Northwest to subdue Native American violence. MINSY sent ships such as Wyoming south to Central America and the Panama Canal to protect US political and commercial interests, some of the support, logistics and munition requirements for the Spanish–American War were filled by Mare Island. MINSY sent men, materiel and ships to San Francisco in response to the following the 1906 earthquake. Arctic rescue missions were mounted as necessary, ordnance manufacturing and storage were two further key missions at MINSY for nearly all of its active service, including ordnance used prior to the American Civil War. In 1911, the Marine Corps established two West Coast recruit training depots first at Mare Island, the second at Puget Sound, Mare Island eventually became the West Coasts only recruit training facility when the Puget Sound operation consolidated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1912. Instructors trained recruits there until August 10,1923, when they relocated to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, in March 1917 MINSY was the site of a major explosion of barges loaded with munitions

14.
European Squadron
–
The European Squadron, also known as the European Station, was a part of the United States Navy in the late 19th century and the early 1900s. The squadron was named the Mediterranean Squadron and renamed following the American Civil War. In 1905, the squadron was absorbed into the North Atlantic Fleet, the Egyptian Expedition in June and July 1882 was a response by the United States to the British and French attack on Alexandria during the Anglo-Egyptian War. Other ships of the squadron from July 1901 included the cruiser USS Albany and this article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships

15.
Western Gulf Blockading Squadron
–
The Union blockade in the American Civil War was a naval strategy by the United States to prevent the Confederacy from trading. Those blockade runners fast enough to evade the Union Navy could only carry a fraction of the supplies needed. They were operated largely by British citizens, making use of ports such as Havana, Nassau. The Union commissioned around 500 ships, which destroyed or captured about 1,500 blockade runners over the course of the war, for this purpose a competent force will be posted so as to prevent entrance and exit of vessels from the ports aforesaid. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, done at the City of Washington, this nineteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-fifth. The British proclamation also formally gave Britain the diplomatic right to discuss openly which side, if any, to support. A joint Union military-navy commission, known as the Blockade Strategy Board, was formed to make plans for seizing major Southern ports to utilize as Union bases of operations to expand the blockade. It first met in June 1861 in Washington, D. C. under the leadership of Captain Samuel F, in the initial phase of the blockade, Union forces concentrated on the Atlantic Coast. The November 1861 capture of Port Royal in South Carolina provided the Federals with an ocean port and repair. It became a base of operations for further expansion of the blockade along the Atlantic coastline. Apalachicola, Florida, received Confederate goods traveling down the Chattahoochee River from Columbus, Georgia, another early prize was Ship Island, which gave the Navy a base from which to patrol the entrances to both the Mississippi River and Mobile Bay. The Navy gradually extended its reach throughout the Gulf of Mexico to the Texas coastline, including Galveston, with 3,500 miles of Confederate coastline and 180 possible ports of entry to patrol, the blockade would be the largest such effort ever attempted. The United States Navy had 42 ships in service, and another 48 laid up. At the time of the declaration of the blockade, the Union only had three ships suitable for blockade duty, the Navy Department, under the leadership of Navy Secretary Gideon Welles, quickly moved to expand the fleet. In 1861, nearly 80 steamers and 60 sailing ships were added to the fleet, some 52 more warships were under construction by the end of the year. By November 1862, there were 282 steamers and 102 sailing ships, by the end of the war, the Union Navy had grown to a size of 671 ships, making it the largest navy in the world. By the end of 1861, the Navy had grown to 24,000 officers and enlisted men, four squadrons of ships were deployed, two in the Atlantic and two in the Gulf of Mexico. Blockade service was attractive to Federal seamen and landsmen alike, Blockade station service was considered the most boring job in the war but also the most attractive in terms of potential financial gain

16.
War of 1812
–
Historians in the United States and Canada see it as a war in its own right, but the British often see it as a minor theatre of the Napoleonic Wars. By the wars end in early 1815, the key issues had been resolved, the view was shared in much of New England and for that reason the war was widely referred to there as Mr. Madison’s War. As a result, the primary British war goal was to defend their North American colonies, the war was fought in three theatres. Second, land and naval battles were fought on the U. S. –Canadian frontier, Third, large-scale battles were fought in the Southern United States and Gulf Coast. With the majority of its land and naval forces tied down in Europe fighting the Napoleonic Wars, early victories over poorly-led U. S. armies demonstrated that the conquest of the Canadas would prove more difficult than anticipated. Despite this, the U. S. was able to inflict serious defeats on Britains Native American allies, both governments were eager for a return to normality and peace negotiations began in Ghent in August 1814. This brought an Era of Good Feelings in which partisan animosity nearly vanished in the face of strengthened American nationalism, the war was also a major turning point in the development of the U. S. military, with militia being increasingly replaced by a more professional force. The U. S. also acquired permanent ownership of Spains Mobile District, the government of Canada declared a three-year commemoration of the War of 1812 in 2012, intended to offer historical lessons and celebrate 200 years of peace across the border. At the conclusion of the commemorations in 2014, a new national War of 1812 Monument was unveiled in Ottawa. The war is remembered in Britain primarily as a footnote in the much larger Napoleonic Wars occurring in Europe, historians have long debated the relative weight of the multiple reasons underlying the origins of the War of 1812. This section summarizes several contributing factors which resulted in the declaration of war by the United States, as Risjord notes, a powerful motivation for the Americans was the desire to uphold national honour in the face of what they considered to be British insults such as the Chesapeake–Leopard Affair. The approaching conflict was about violations of American rights, but it was also vindication of American identity. Americans at the time and historians since often called it the United States Second War of Independence, in 1807, Britain introduced a series of trade restrictions via a series of Orders in Council to impede neutral trade with France, with which Britain was at war. The United States contested these restrictions as illegal under international law, the American merchant marine had come close to doubling between 1802 and 1810, making it by far the largest neutral fleet. Britain was the largest trading partner, receiving 80% of U. S. cotton, the British public and press were resentful of the growing mercantile and commercial competition. The United States view was that Britains restrictions violated its right to trade with others, during the Napoleonic Wars, the Royal Navy expanded to 176 ships of the line and 600 ships overall, requiring 140,000 sailors to man. The United States believed that British deserters had a right to become U. S. citizens and this meant that in addition to recovering naval deserters, it considered any United States citizens who were born British liable for impressment. Aggravating the situation was the reluctance of the United States to issue formal naturalization papers and it was estimated by the Admiralty that there were 11,000 naturalized sailors on United States ships in 1805

17.
USS Essex (1799)
–
The first USS Essex of the United States Navy was a 36-gun or 32-gun sailing frigate that participated in the Quasi-War with France, the First Barbary War, and in the War of 1812. The British captured her in 1814 and she served as HMS Essex until sold at public auction on 6 June 1837. The frigate was built by Enos Briggs, Salem, Massachusetts, at a cost of $139,362 subscribed by the people of Salem and Essex County, to a design by William Hackett. Essex was armed with short range carronades that could not hope to match the range of 18 and 24 pounder naval guns. She was launched on 30 September 1799, on 17 December 1799 she was presented to the United States Navy and accepted by Captain Edward Preble. Shortly after commencement of her journey, Essex became the first US Naval Ship to cross the Equator, Captain William Bainbridge commanded Essex on her second cruise, whereon she sailed to the Mediterranean with the squadron of Commodore Richard Dale. Following repairs at the Washington Navy Yard in 1802, Essex resumed her duties in the Mediterranean under Captain James Barron in August 1804 and she participated in the Battle of Derne on 27 April 1805, and remained in those waters until the conclusion of peace terms in 1806. Returning to the Washington Navy Yard in July, she was placed in ordinary until February 1809 when she was recommissioned for use in patrolling American waters. When war was declared against Britain on 18 June 1812, Essex, commanded by Captain David Porter, on 11 July near Bermuda she fell in with seven British transports and by moonlight engaged and took one of them as a prize. On 13 August she encountered and captured the sloop HMS Alert after an engagement, by September, when she returned to New York, Essex had taken ten prizes. The youngest member of the Essex crew was 10-year-old midshipman David Glasgow Farragut, Farragut, who was Captain Porters foster son, remained with the ship for the next two years. Essex sailed in South Atlantic waters and along the coast of Brazil until January 1813, Nereyda had captured two American whalers, Walker and Barclay, only to have the British whaler and privateer Nimrod take Walker. Nereyda had sent Barclay to Callao, where Porter was able to capture her before she could enter port and he sent a disarmed Nereyda back to the Peruvian authorities as a gesture of good will. He searched for Nimrod and Walker, but was unable to find them, the two ships and nine of their prizes put in at the island of Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas Islands on 25 October 1813 for repairs. Essex and Essex Junior departed Nuku Hiva in mid-December 1813, on 28 March 1814, Porter determined to gain the open sea, fearing the arrival of British reinforcements. Upon rounding the point, Essex lost her main top-mast to foul weather and was brought to action just north of Valparaíso. Fires twice erupted aboard Essex, at which point about fifty men abandoned the ship and swam for shore, only half of them landing, eventually, the hopeless situation forced Porter to surrender. Essex had suffered 58 dead and 31 missing of her crew of 154, the British lost four men dead and seven wounded on Phoebe, and one dead and three wounded on Cherub

18.
Action off Charles Island
–
The Action off Charles Island was a naval battle fought during the War of 1812 in the summer of 1813 off Charles Island in the Galapagos. An American squadron of three vessels attacked three British armed whalers, and captured them, at the time of the action, Essex was accompanied by two smaller vessels, recently captured from the British and classified as sloops-of-war by Captain Porter. They were the 10-gun Greenwich of 338 tons burthen and the 10-gun Georgiana of 280 tons burthen, Porter had sent the rest of his fleet to Valparaiso to be sold while he and the remaining vessels patrolled for British whalers between Tumbes, Peru and the Galapagos. Because Porter had entered the Pacific with no more than 350 American servicemen under his command, Georgiana had a complement of forty-two men under Mr. Adams, the Essexs chaplain, and Greenwich held only fourteen men under the command of Lieutenant Gamble. Either way at about 11,00 am the Americans were sailing west from Tumbes, Peru, commodore Porter signaled his ships to prepare for action and a chase began. At the time, the majority of British ships cruising in the South Pacific were whalers sailing under letters of marque, the first British vessel Porter captured was the brig Charlton of ten guns. Charlton was sailing in the center of the three ships, and she surrendered to Essex without a fight as Greenwich and Georgiana went after Seringapatam, Seringapatam was originally built of teak at Bombay as a small man-of-war of 357 tons burthen for Tippoo Sahib of Mysore. However, he died at the Battle of Seringapatam, and the British merchants who bought her used her as a whaler, Seringapatam had made several whaling and sealing voyages to the South Atlantic and this area since 1800. Her commander, Captain William Stavers, had a 41-man crew, on this voyage she had captured one American whaler on the way to the whaling grounds. When escape seemed unlikely, Seringapatam changed course and appeared to be making a run on Greenwich but the latter came to a halt and waited for Georgiana to come up. At this point, four men were transferred from Georgiana to Greenwich so Captain Stavers chose to break off the attack, Lieutenant Gamble closed the distance between the two ships and he first demanded that the British surrender. But when the Americans came within range, Seringapatam raise her colors. Greenwich immediately returned fire with small arms and cannon, and for several moments the two exchanged fire. American fire proved to be accurate, and after taking heavy damage the British struck their colors. Just as Lieutenant Gamble was preparing to board the enemy, Seringapatam attempted another escape, Gamble ordered his men to resume shooting at the sails of the British vessel and eventually brought her to a halt. Meanwhile, Essex had finished pursuing the small 8-gun New Zealander, Captain Porter then assisted in chasing down Seringapatam. American sources make no mention of casualties on either side though Greenwich sustained some damage, lloyds List reported that Essex had captured Seringapatam, Stavers, master, New Zealander, Donneman, master, and Charlton, Halcrow, master. Porter then had put the crews aboard Charlton

19.
Nuku Hiva Campaign
–
The Nuku Hiva Campaign was an armed conflict between the United States and the Polynesian inhabitants of Nuku Hiva during the War of 1812. It occurred in 1813, following Captain David Porters decision to sail his fleet to the island for repairs before continuing his raid against British shipping. Upon arrival, the Americans became involved in a war and allied themselves with the Te Ii people against the Happah. Operations in the Pacific began in early 1813 when Captain Porter entered the Pacific, via Cape Horn, originally Porter was assigned to rendezvous with two other warships but both encountered enemy resistance before their meeting and Porter went around the horn alone. The mission was to harass the British whaling industry off South America, for months the Americans cruised the South Seas and they captured several enemy ships which were armed and placed under navy command. The American fleet that went to the Marquesas included eleven vessels, in total, Captain Porter had just over 200 United States Navy officers and sailors, accompanied by a small detachment of no more than twenty marines under the command of Lieutenant John M. Gamble. Additionally, many of the prisoners from the enemy ships were Americans and they volunteered for service. One of the sailors was the young midshipman David Farragut, later the first United States Navy admiral, Porter arrived off Nuku Hiva, on October 25,1813 and he renamed it Madisons Island after President James Madison. Then Porter began making preparations to establish the first American naval base in the Pacific, as well as a colony, named Madisonville. The declaration stated that the Te Iis were subjects of the United States, in this time the sailors also scraped the copper bottom hull of Essex and used smoke to drive out over 1,000 rats hiding in her works. The Americans described the native warriors as being tall and copper colored and they wore loin cloths and some had capes made of tree bark, the warriors also carried large clubs or spears. The women were clothed in similar fashion to the men, mostly naked, a half-naked Englishman named Wilson was found to be living on the island, and had been for many years. He was used as an interpreter for conversing with the native chiefs, Nuku Hiva, at the time, was inhabited by many tribes of indigenous peoples, separated in villages by mountain peaks thousands of feet high. The main effort of this expedition dragged along a wheeled 6 pound cannon for added effect, the amazement of the aboriginals at gunpowder weapons was already noted upon their landing on the island. Several hundred Te Ii warriors accompanied the expedition left the coast in the first week of November. After a journey through the jungle Downes and his men found the fort occupied by 3,000 to 4,000 hostiles. An attack was made by the Te Ii and their American allies, a sailor was wounded by a spear, to the neck, but he apparently survived. Lt. Gamble was singled out by a heavily built Happah warrior, drawing his Mameluke sword he blocked the club from knocking him unconscious as another Marine, seeing him struggling, leveled his musket at the Happahs head

20.
Prisoner of war
–
A prisoner of war is a person, whether combatant or non-combatant, who is held in custody by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the prisoner of war dates to 1660. The first Roman gladiators were prisoners of war and were named according to their ethnic roots such as Samnite, Thracian, typically, little distinction was made between enemy combatants and enemy civilians, although women and children were more likely to be spared. Sometimes, the purpose of a battle, if not a war, was to capture women, a known as raptio. Typically women had no rights, and were legally as chattel. For this he was eventually canonized, during Childerics siege and blockade of Paris in 464, the nun Geneviève pleaded with the Frankish king for the welfare of prisoners of war and met with a favourable response. Later, Clovis I liberated captives after Genevieve urged him to do so, many French prisoners of war were killed during the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. In the later Middle Ages, a number of religious wars aimed to not only defeat, in Christian Europe, the extermination of heretics was considered desirable. Examples include the 13th century Albigensian Crusade and the Northern Crusades, likewise, the inhabitants of conquered cities were frequently massacred during the Crusades against the Muslims in the 11th and 12th centuries. Noblemen could hope to be ransomed, their families would have to send to their captors large sums of wealth commensurate with the status of the captive. In feudal Japan there was no custom of ransoming prisoners of war, in Termez, on the Oxus, all the people, both men and women, were driven out onto the plain, and divided in accordance with their usual custom, then they were all slain. The Aztecs were constantly at war with neighbouring tribes and groups, for the re-consecration of Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, between 10,000 and 80,400 persons were sacrificed. During the early Muslim conquests, Muslims routinely captured large number of prisoners, aside from those who converted, most were ransomed or enslaved. Christians who were captured during the Crusades, were either killed or sold into slavery if they could not pay a ransom. The freeing of prisoners was highly recommended as a charitable act, there also evolved the right of parole, French for discourse, in which a captured officer surrendered his sword and gave his word as a gentleman in exchange for privileges. If he swore not to escape, he could gain better accommodations, if he swore to cease hostilities against the nation who held him captive, he could be repatriated or exchanged but could not serve against his former captors in a military capacity. Early historical narratives of captured colonial Europeans, including perspectives of literate women captured by the peoples of North America. The writings of Mary Rowlandson, captured in the fighting of King Philips War, are an example

21.
American Civil War
–
The American Civil War was an internal conflict fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The Union faced secessionists in eleven Southern states grouped together as the Confederate States of America, the Union won the war, which remains the bloodiest in U. S. history. Among the 34 U. S. states in February 1861, War broke out in April 1861 when Confederates attacked the U. S. fortress of Fort Sumter. The Confederacy grew to eleven states, it claimed two more states, the Indian Territory, and the southern portions of the western territories of Arizona. The Confederacy was never recognized by the United States government nor by any foreign country. The states that remained loyal, including border states where slavery was legal, were known as the Union or the North, the war ended with the surrender of all the Confederate armies and the dissolution of the Confederate government in the spring of 1865. The war had its origin in the issue of slavery. The Confederacy collapsed and 4 million slaves were freed, but before his inauguration, seven slave states with cotton-based economies formed the Confederacy. The first six to declare secession had the highest proportions of slaves in their populations, the first seven with state legislatures to resolve for secession included split majorities for unionists Douglas and Bell in Georgia with 51% and Louisiana with 55%. Alabama had voted 46% for those unionists, Mississippi with 40%, Florida with 38%, Texas with 25%, of these, only Texas held a referendum on secession. Eight remaining slave states continued to reject calls for secession, outgoing Democratic President James Buchanan and the incoming Republicans rejected secession as illegal. Lincolns March 4,1861 inaugural address declared that his administration would not initiate a civil war, speaking directly to the Southern States, he reaffirmed, I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the United States where it exists. I believe I have no right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. After Confederate forces seized numerous federal forts within territory claimed by the Confederacy, efforts at compromise failed, the Confederates assumed that European countries were so dependent on King Cotton that they would intervene, but none did, and none recognized the new Confederate States of America. Hostilities began on April 12,1861, when Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, while in the Western Theater the Union made significant permanent gains, in the Eastern Theater, the battle was inconclusive in 1861–62. The autumn 1862 Confederate campaigns into Maryland and Kentucky failed, dissuading British intervention, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made ending slavery a war goal. To the west, by summer 1862 the Union destroyed the Confederate river navy, then much of their western armies, the 1863 Union siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River. In 1863, Robert E. Lees Confederate incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg, Western successes led to Ulysses S. Grants command of all Union armies in 1864

22.
Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip
–
The Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip was the decisive battle for possession of New Orleans in the American Civil War. The two Confederate forts on the Mississippi River south of the city were attacked by a Union Navy fleet. As long as the forts could keep the Federal forces from moving on the city, it was safe, New Orleans, the largest city in the Confederacy, was already under threat of attack from the north when David Farragut moved his fleet into the river from the south. The Confederate Navy had already driven off the Union blockade fleet in the Battle of the Head of Passes the previous October. Men and equipment had been withdrawn from the defenses, so that by mid-April almost nothing remained to the south except the two forts and an assortment of gunboats of questionable worth. Without reducing the pressure from the north, President Abraham Lincoln set in motion a combined Army-Navy operation to attack from the south, the Union Army offered 18,000 soldiers, led by the political general Benjamin F. Butler. The Navy contributed a large fraction of its West Gulf Blockading Squadron, the squadron was augmented by a semi-autonomous flotilla of mortar schooners and their support vessels under Commander David Dixon Porter. The expedition assembled at Ship Island in the Gulf, once they were ready, the naval contingent moved its ships into the river, an operation that was completed on April 14. They were then moved into position near the forts, and on April 18 the mortars opened the battle, during the passage, one Federal warship was lost and three others turned back, while the Confederate gunboats were virtually obliterated. The subsequent capture of the city, achieved no further significant opposition, was a serious, even fatal. The forts remained after the fleet had passed, but the enlisted men in Fort Jackson mutinied and forced their surrender. Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip were a pair of closely associated forts on the Mississippi River and they were sited some 40 kilometers above Head of Passes, where the river divides before it finally enters the Gulf of Mexico, or about 120 kilometers downstream from New Orleans. Fort Jackson was on the bank, while Fort St. Philip was on the left bank of the river. Because of the path of the river, Fort Jackson was actually somewhat east of Fort St. Philip. Although land-based forts had long considered to be invulnerable to attack by naval guns, some weaknesses had been exposed in the Battle of Port Royal, South Carolina. Following that battle, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus V, Fox began to press for expanded use of the United States Navy in attacking coastal Confederate positions. He particularly emphasized the desirability of assaulting New Orleans, the largest city in the Confederacy, Fox proposed that the two forts could be weakened if not completely destroyed by a mortar barrage, and a relatively small Army force then could assault the weakened forts. Following the reduction of the forts, or even during the army assault, at first, the Army, in the person of General-in-Chief George B

23.
Capture of New Orleans
–
The capture of New Orleans during the American Civil War was an important event for the Union. Having fought past Forts Jackson and St. Philip, the Union was unopposed in its capture of the city itself, however, the controversial and confrontational administration of the city by its U. S Army military governor caused lasting resentment. This capture of the largest Confederate city was a turning point. The history of New Orleans contrasts significantly with the histories of other cities became part of the Confederate States of America. Because it was founded by the French and owned by Spain for a time, New Orleans had a cosmopolitan culture. Only 13 percent of the 1810 population was Anglo-American, New Orleans also benefited more by the Industrial Revolution, international trade, and geographical position. Of particular significance were the inventions of the steamboat and the cotton gin, before the steamboat, keelboat men bringing cargo downriver would break up their boats for lumber in New Orleans and travel overland back to Ohio or Illinois to repeat the process. Steamboats had enough power to move upstream against the current of the Mississippi, a formative event in the early history of New Orleans was the Battle of New Orleans. This battle, though fought after the end of the War of 1812, enhanced the political career of Andrew Jackson, Jackson became the first of America’s “Imperial Presidents”, and began a new political movement now known as the Jacksonian Democracy. This new direction in American politics had a influence on the development of New Orleans. One of these developments was the construction of Fort Jackson, Louisiana and this fortress was intended to support Fort St. Philip and bar the Mississippi Delta from invasion. The victory of Abraham Lincoln, the Republican presidential candidate, in the election of 1860, resulted in the secession crisis, by the year 1860, the City of New Orleans was in a position of unprecedented economic, military, and political power. The Mexican–American War, along with the annexation of Texas, had made New Orleans even more of a springboard for expansion, the California Gold Rush contributed another share to local wealth. The combination of all these factors resulted in an increase in the price of prime field hands of 21 per cent in 1848, and further increases as the value of trade grew through the 1850s. By 1860 New Orleans was one of the greatest ports in the world, with 33 different steamship lines and trade worth 500 million dollars passing through the city. As far as population, the city not only outnumbered any other city in the South, it was larger than the four next-largest Southern cities combined, with an estimated population of 168,675. The election of Lincoln in 1860 inspired one of the most ardent secessionists in Louisiana, its governor, Thomas Overton Moore, governor Moore interdicted an effort to make New Orleans a “free city”, or neutral area in the conflict. A solid Democrat, Moore organized an effective and discreet movement that voted Louisiana out of the Union in a convention that represented only 5 per cent of the citizens of Louisiana

24.
Siege of Vicksburg
–
The Siege of Vicksburg was the final major military action in the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. In a series of maneuvers, Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed the Mississippi River and drove the Confederate Army of Mississippi, Pemberton, into the defensive lines surrounding the fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Vicksburg was the last major Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River, therefore, capturing it completed the part of the Northern strategy. When two major assaults against the Confederate fortifications were repulsed with casualties, Grant decided to besiege the city beginning on May 25. With no reinforcement, supplies nearly gone, and after holding out for more than forty days, the successful ending of the Vicksburg Campaign significantly degraded the ability of the Confederacy to maintain its war effort, as described in the Aftermath section of the campaign article. Ballard, p. 308—suggest that the battle in the campaign was actually the Battle of Champion Hill. This action yielded command of the Mississippi River to the Union forces, attempts to stop the Union advance at Champion Hill and Big Black River Bridge were unsuccessful. Pemberton knew that the corps under Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman was preparing to flank him from the north, he had no choice but to withdraw or be outflanked. Pemberton burned the bridges over the Big Black River and took everything edible in his path, both animal and plant, as he retreated to the city of Vicksburg. Grant could now receive supplies more directly than by the previous route, large masses of Union troops were on the march to invest the city, repairing the burnt bridges over the Big Black River, which Grants forces crossed on May 18. Johnston sent a note to his general, Pemberton, asking him to sacrifice the city and save his troops, Washburn, XVII Corps, under Maj. Gen. James B. Pembertons Confederate Army of Mississippi inside the Vicksburg line consisted of four divisions, carter L. Stevenson, John H. Forney, Martin L. Smith, John S. Bowen. As the Confederate forces approached Vicksburg, Pemberton could put only 18,500 troops in his lines, Grant had over 35,000, with more on the way. However, Pemberton had the advantage of terrain and fortifications that made his defense nearly impregnable, the defensive line around Vicksburg ran approximately 6.5 miles, based on terrain of varying elevations that included hills and knobs with steep angles for an attacker to ascend under fire. The perimeter included many gun pits, forts, trenches, redoubts, Grant wanted to overwhelm the Confederates before they could fully organize their defenses and ordered an immediate assault against Stockade Redan for May 19. This first attempt was easily repulsed, the assault collapsed in a melee of rifle fire and hand grenades lobbing back and forth. The failed Federal assaults of May 19 damaged Union morale, deflating the confidence the soldiers felt after their string of victories across Mississippi. They were also costly, with casualties of 157 killed,777 wounded, the Confederates, assumed to be demoralized, had regained their fighting edge

25.
Siege of Port Hudson
–
The Siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana, was the final engagement in the Union campaign to recapture the Mississippi in the American Civil War. While Union General Ulysses Grant was besieging Vicksburg upriver, General Nathaniel Banks was ordered to capture the Confederate stronghold of Port Hudson, when his assault failed, Banks settled into a 48-day siege, the longest in US military history. A second attack failed, and it was only after the fall of Vicksburg that the Confederate commander. This left the Mississippi open to Union navigation from its source to the Gulf of Mexico, from the time the American Civil War started in April 1861, both the North and South made controlling the Mississippi River a major part of their strategy. The Confederacy wanted to keep using the river to transport needed supplies, particularly important to the South was the stretch of the Mississippi that included the mouth of the Red River. In the spring and early summer of 1862, the Union advanced their control of the Mississippi from both the north and the south, a second Union fleet commanded by Charles H. Davis occupied Memphis, Tennessee, after defeating Confederate riverine forces in Battle of Memphis. To make sure it could continue to use the section of the river. The initial idea of fortifying the heights of Port Hudson came from the master of fixed defenses, General Pierre G. T. Beauregard, Commander, Army of the Mississippi. ”In June 1862, Major General Earl Van Dorn wrote Jefferson Davis, “I want Baton Rouge and Port Hudson” A few days after the fall of Baton Rouge to the Union. Breckinridge with 4,000 men, carried out the wishes of General Van Dorn by occupying Port Hudson, soldiers of the 4th Louisiana Infantry arrived at the site on August 15,1862. According to historian John D. Winters, Port Hudson, unlike Baton Rouge, was one of the strongest points on the river and it was a position similar to that of Quebec City in the French and Indian War. The political momentum behind the Union actions against Port Hudson came from the elections of November 1862, the Republican base, centered in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, had been shaken by embarrassing Democratic victories. A dramatic letter from Indiana Governor Oliver P. Morton to Lincoln claimed “The fate of the North-West is trembling in the balance. ”His implication was that unless the independent trade of Union states along the Ohio River was restored by Union control of the entire Mississippi, further breakup of the Union was possible. Morton believed the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois were in danger of breaking away from the Northeast to join the Confederacy, the threatening political fractures galvanized the Lincoln administration into action. Major General Nathanial Banks was diverted from an expedition to Texas and given Benjamin Butler’s command of the Department of the Gulf. ”On December 4,1862, Banks. In May 1863, Union land and naval forces began a campaign they hoped would give control of the full length of the Mississippi River. Banks simultaneously attacked Port Hudson, which stood at the southern end, Port Hudson was sited on an 80 feet bluff on the east bank above a hairpin turn in the Mississippi River 25 miles upriver from Baton Rouge. The hills and ridges in the area of the town represented extremely rough terrain, a maze of deep, thickly forested ravines, swamps, the town was a port for shipping cotton and sugar downriver from the surrounding area. Despite its importance, the city consisted of a few buildings and 200 people by the start of the war, the river had shifted south and the docks had been moved about.5 miles south

26.
Battle of Mobile Bay
–
This was followed by a reduction of the Confederate fleet to a single vessel, ironclad CSS Tennessee. Tennessee did not then retire, but engaged the entire Northern fleet, Tennessees armor enabled her to inflict more injury than she received, but she could not overcome the imbalance in numbers. She was eventually reduced to a hulk and surrendered, ending the battle. With no Navy to support them, the three forts also surrendered within days, complete control of lower Mobile Bay thus passed to the Union forces. Mobile is situated near the head of Mobile Bay, a natural harbor formed where the Mobile, the bay is about 33 mi long, the lower bay is about 23 mi at its greatest width. It is deep enough to accommodate ocean-going vessels in the lower half without dredging, above the mouth of Dog River the water becomes shoal, so deep-draft vessels could not approach the city. The mouth of the bay is marked on the east by a narrow peninsula of sand, Mobile Point, that separates Bon Secour Bay. The point ends at the channel into Mobile Bay. Across the entrance, the line of the peninsula is continued in a series of barrier islands, northwest of Dauphin Island is Little Dauphin Island, then a series of minor islands that are interrupted by a secondary entrance to the bay, Grants Pass. A few other islands and shoals lie to the south of Dauphin Island. Rather early in the war, the Confederate government decided not to defend its entire coast, following the loss of New Orleans in April 1862, Mobile was the only major port on the eastern gulf that would be defended. The city subsequently became the center for blockade running on the gulf, most of the trade between the Confederacy and Havana and other Caribbean ports passed through Mobile. A few attempts were mounted to break the blockade, but they were not large enough to have lasting impact, although the orders given to Flag Officer David G. Given respite by the Union strategy, the Confederate Army improved the defenses of Mobile Bay by strengthening Fort Morgan, in addition, they set up Fort Powell, a smaller work that guarded the Grants Pass channel. Grants Pass was also obstructed by a set of piles and other impediments, Mobile and Mobile Bay were within the Department of Alabama, Mississippi and East Louisiana, led by Major General Dabney H. Maury. Local command was entrusted to Brigadier General Richard L. Page, the primary contribution of the Confederate Army to the defense of Mobile Bay was the three forts. Fort Morgan was a structure dating from 1834. The fort mounted 46 guns, of which 11 were rifled, across the main channel from Fort Morgan on Dauphin Island was Fort Gaines, containing 26 guns, and with a garrison of about 600

27.
Flag officer
–
A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nations armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which the officer exercises command. In some countries, such as Bangladesh, the United States, Pakistan and India, it may apply to all armed forces and this means generals can also be considered flag officers. In most Arab armies, liwa, which can be translated as flag officer, is a specific rank, however, ensign is debatably a more exact translation of the word. In principle, a flag officer commands several units called flags, Flag officer corresponds to the generic terms general officer and air officer. A flag officer sometimes is an officer, called a flag lieutenant or flag adjutant. In the Canadian Forces, an officer is an admiral, vice-admiral, rear-admiral, or commodore. Base commanders, usually full colonels, also have a pennant that flies from the mast or flagpole on the base, since the unification of the Canadian Forces in 1968, a flag officers dress tunic had a single broad stripe on the sleeve and epaulettes. There are no epaulettes on the exterior of the tunic, in India, it is applied to brigadiers, major generals, lieutenant generals and generals in the Army. The equivalents are commodore, rear admiral, vice admiral and admiral in the Navy and air commodore, air marshal, air marshal. Each of these category of officers is designated with a specific flag. Indias honorary ranks are field marshal in the Army, marshal of the Indian Air Force in the Air Force, in the Royal Navy, there is a distinction between flag officer and officer of flag rank. Formerly all officers promoted to flag rank were considered to be flag officers, of the 39 officers of flag rank in the Royal Navy in 2006, very few were flag officers with entitlement to fly a flag. List of fleets and major commands of the Royal Navy lists most admirals who were flag officers, a flag officers junior officer is often known as Flags. The rank of flag officer was bestowed on senior Navy captains who were assigned to lead a squadron of vessels in addition to command of their own ship, during the American Civil War, the Confederate States Navy also used the term. S. Navy or Coast Guard serving in or having the grade of admiral, vice admiral, rear admiral, or rear admiral, in 1862 Congress authorized American use of the title admiral. In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, brigadier general, or pay grade O-7, and above. However, as a matter of law, Title 10 of the United States Code makes a distinction between officers and flag officers. Non-naval officers usually fly their flags from their headquarters, vessels, or vehicles, in the United States all flag and general officers must be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate, each subsequent promotion requires renomination and re-approval

28.
Rear admiral (United States)
–
Rear admiral in the United States refers to two different ranks of commissioned officers — one-star flag officers and two-star flag officers. By contrast, in most nations, the rear admiral refers to an officer of two-star rank. The abbreviation for personnel from the USN, USCG, and NOAA is RDML, whereas for the USPHS, Rear admiral ranks above captain and below rear admiral. Rear admiral is equivalent to the rank of general in the other uniformed services. In the United States uniformed services, rear admiral replaced the rank of commodore in 1985, Rear admiral ranks above rear admiral and below vice admiral. Rear admiral is equivalent to the rank of general in the other uniformed services. It is the highest permanent rank during peacetime in the uniformed services, all higher ranks are temporary ranks and linked to their specific commands or office and expire with the expiration of their term of command or office. Before the American Civil War, the American Navy had resisted creating the rank of admiral, instead, they preferred the term flag officer, in order to distinguish the rank from the traditions of the European navies. During the American Civil War, The US Congress honored David Glasgow Farraguts successful assault on the city of New Orleans by creating the rank of admiral on July 16,1862. During World War II, the U. S. Navy, by the end of the war, all incumbents had been advanced to the rank of two-star rear admiral and the commodore rank was eliminated in both services. Lower-half rear admirals were promoted to full rear admirals, or upper half status. However, both categories of rear admiral wore two-star insignia, an issue that was a source of consternation to the other services. Although not flag officers, these officers were entitled to a blue and white command pennant containing the initials. 97–86 expanded commodore from a title to a permanent grade by creating the one-star rank of commodore admiral. After only 11 months, the rank was reverted to just commodore, however, this caused issues with the Navy due to the difficulty in discriminating those commodores who were flag officers from commodores who were senior captains in certain command positions. 99–145 renamed commodore to the current grade of rear admiral effective on November 8,1985, up until 1981, all rear admirals wore two stars on their shoulder bars and rank insignia. Since then, rear admirals wear one star while rear admirals wear two, verbal address remains rear admiral for both ranks, on correspondence, where the rear admirals rank is spelled out, the acronym and follows the rear admirals rank title to distinguish between one and two stars. The flags of restricted line officers and staff officers have blue stars on a white field

29.
Vice admiral (United States)
–
Vice admiral ranks above rear admiral and below admiral. Vice admiral is equivalent to the rank of lieutenant general in the uniformed services. U. S. Code of law explicitly limits the number of vice admirals that may be on active duty at any given time. The total number of active-duty flag officers is capped at 160 for the navy, for the navy, no more than 16. 7% of the services active-duty flag officers may have more than two stars. Some of these slots can be reserved by statute, officers serving in certain Defense Agency Director positions such as the Director of the Defense Logistics Agency, when filled by a naval officer, are vice admirals. The Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy is usually always a vice admiral, the President may also add vice admirals to the Navy if they are offset by removing an equivalent number of three-star officers from other services. Finally, all statutory limits may be waived at the Presidents discretion during time of war or national emergency, the three-star grade goes hand-in-hand with the position of office it is linked to, so the rank is temporary. Officers may only achieve three-star grade if they are appointed to positions that require the officer to hold such a rank and their rank expires with the expiration of their term of office, which is usually set by statute. The nominee must be confirmed via majority vote by the Senate before the appointee can take office, the standard tour length for most vice admiral positions is three years but some are set four or more years by statute. Some statutory limits under the U. S. Code can be waived in times of emergency or war. Three-star ranks may also be given by act of Congress but this is extremely rare, other than voluntary retirement, statute sets a number of mandates for retirement. Three-star officers must retire after 38 years of service unless appointed for promotion or reappointed to grade to serve longer, otherwise all flag officers must retire the month after their 64th birthday. The Secretary of Defense, however, can defer a three-star officers retirement until the officers 66th birthday, flag officers typically retire well in advance of the statutory age and service limits, so as not to impede the upward career mobility of their juniors. Since there is a number of three-star slots available to each service

30.
Knoxville, Tennessee
–
Knoxville is a city in the U. S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Knox County. The city had an population of 185,291 in 2015. Knoxville is the city of the Knoxville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The KMSA is, in turn, the component of the Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette Combined Statistical Area. First settled in 1786, Knoxville was the first capital of Tennessee, the city struggled with geographic isolation throughout the early 19th century. The arrival of the railroad in 1855 led to an economic boom, during the Civil War, the city was bitterly divided over the secession issue, and was occupied alternately by both Confederate and Union armies. Following the war, Knoxville grew rapidly as a wholesaling and manufacturing center. The citys economy stagnated after the 1920s as the manufacturing sector collapsed, Knoxville is the home of the flagship campus of the University of Tennessee, whose sports teams, called the Volunteers or Vols, are extremely popular in the surrounding area. The first people to form settlements in what is now Knoxville arrived during the Woodland period. One of the oldest artificial structures in Knoxville is a burial mound constructed during the early Mississippian culture period, the earthwork mound is now surrounded by the University of Tennessee campus. By the 18th century, the Cherokee had become the dominant tribe in the East Tennessee region, although they were consistently at war with the Creek, the Cherokee people called the Knoxville area kuwandatalunyi, which means Mulberry Place. Most Cherokee habitation in the area was concentrated in the Overhill settlements along the Little Tennessee River, the first Euro-American traders and explorers were recorded as arriving in the Tennessee Valley in the late 17th century. There is significant evidence that Hernando de Soto visited Bussell Island in 1540, the end of the French and Indian War and confusion brought about by the American Revolution led to a drastic increase in Euro-American settlement west of the Appalachians. By the 1780s, Euro-American settlers were established in the Holston. The U. S. Congress ordered all illegal settlers out of the valley in 1785, as settlers continued to trickle into Cherokee lands, tensions between the settlers and the Cherokee rose steadily. In 1786, James White, a Revolutionary War officer, and his friend James Connor built Whites Fort near the mouth of First Creek, on land White had purchased three years earlier. In 1790, Whites son-in-law, Charles McClung—who had arrived from Pennsylvania the previous year—surveyed Whites holdings between First Creek and Second Creek for the establishment of a town, mcClung drew up 640. 5-acre lots. The waterfront was set aside for a town common, two lots were set aside for a church and graveyard

31.
David Porter (naval officer)
–
David Porter was an officer in the United States Navy in the rank of captain and the honorary title of commodore. Porter commanded a number of U. S. naval ships and he saw service in the First Barbary War, the War of 1812 and in the West Indies. On July 2,1812, Porter hoisted the banner Free trade, the phrase resonated with many Americans and became a standard summary of U. S. war aims in 1812. Porter was later court martialed, he resigned and then joined, during the First Barbary War Porter was 1st lieutenant of Enterprise, New York and Philadelphia and was taken prisoner when Philadelphia ran aground in Tripoli harbor October 31,1803. After his release on June 3,1805, he remained in the Mediterranean as acting captain of USS Constitution, Porter married Evalina Anderson, and they had 10 children who survived, including six sons. One of these, David Dixon Porter, later became an admiral in the U. S. Navy, the older David Porter Sr. met and befriended another naval veteran of the Revolution, George Farragut, from Spanish Minorca. In late spring 1808, David Porter Sr. suffered sunstroke, and Farragut took him into his home, already weakened by tuberculosis, he died on June 22,1808. Elizabeth Farragut died of yellow fever the same day, motherless, the Farragut children were to be placed with friends and relatives. In 1809 he moved with Porter to Washington, where he met Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton, when James went to sea soon after with his adoptive father, he changed his name from James to David, and it is as David Glasgow Farragut that he is remembered. Porter served in the Quasi war with France and he was appointed a midshipman on 16 April 1798. He was assigned to the USS Constellation under the command of John Rodgers and he was promoted to lieutenant on 8 October 1799. As lieutenant he served as second in command of the schooner USS Experiment during the action of 1 January 1800 and he was promoted to master commandant on 22 April 1806 and was in charge of the naval forces at New Orleans from 1808 to 1810. With the outbreak of the War of 1812, Porter was promoted to captain on 2 July 1812 and was assigned as commander of USS Essex and he sailed out of New York harbor with the banner, Free trade and sailors rights flying from the foretopgallant mast. Captain Porter achieved fame by capturing the first British warship of the conflict, HMS Alert, in February 1813 he sailed Essex around Cape Horn and cruised the Pacific warring on British whalers. Porters first action in the Pacific was the capture of the Peruvian vessel Nereyda, over the next year, Porter would capture 12 whaleships and 360 prisoners. In June 1813, Porter released his prisoners, on the condition that they not fight against the United States until they were exchanged for American prisoners of war. Porters usual tactic was to raise British colors to allay the British captains suspicions, then once invited on board, he would reveal his true allegiance and purpose. From 1815 to 1822, he was a member of the Board of Navy Commissioners, while in the West Indies suppressing piracy, Porter invaded the town of Fajardo, Puerto Rico to avenge the jailing of an officer from his fleet

32.
Caribbean Sea
–
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. The entire area of the Caribbean Sea, the islands of the West Indies. The Caribbean Sea is one of the largest seas and has an area of about 2,754,000 km2, the seas deepest point is the Cayman Trough, between the Cayman Islands and Jamaica, at 7,686 m below sea level. The Caribbean coastline has many gulfs and bays, the Gulf of Gonâve, Gulf of Venezuela, Gulf of Darién, Golfo de los Mosquitos, Gulf of Paria, the Caribbean Sea has the worlds second biggest barrier reef, the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef. It runs 1,000 km along the coasts of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, the name Caribbean derives from the Caribs, one of the regions dominant Native American groups at the time of European contact during the late 15th century. During the first century of development, Spanish dominance in the region remained undisputed, from the 16th century, Europeans visiting the Caribbean region identified the South Sea as opposed to the North Sea. The Caribbean Sea had been unknown to the populations of Eurasia until 1492, at that time the Western Hemisphere in general was unknown to Europeans. Following the discovery of the islands by Columbus, the area was colonised by several Western cultures. As of 2015 the area is home to 22 island territories, the International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Caribbean Sea as follows, On the North. In the Windward Channel – a line joining Caleta Point and Pearl Point in Haïti, in the Mona Passage – a line joining Cape Engano and the extreme of Agujereada in Puerto Rico. From Galera Point through Trinidad to Galeota Point and thence to Baja Point in Venezuela, note that, although Barbados is an island on the same continental shelf, it is considered to be in the Atlantic Ocean rather than the Caribbean Sea. The Caribbean Sea is an oceanic sea largely situated on the Caribbean Plate, the Caribbean Sea is separated from the ocean by several island arcs of various ages. The youngest stretches from the Lesser Antilles to the Virgin Islands to the north east of Trinidad, the larger islands in the northern part of the sea Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica and Puerto Rico lie on an older island arc. The geological age of the Caribbean Sea is estimated to be between 160 and 180 million years and was formed by a fracture that split the supercontinent called Pangea in the Mesozoic Era. It is assumed the proto-caribbean basin existed in the Devonian period, in the early Carboniferous movement of Gondwana to the north and its convergence with the Euramerica basin decreased in size. The next stage of the Caribbean Seas formation began in the Triassic, powerful rifting led to the formation of narrow troughs, stretching from modern Newfoundland to the west coast of the Gulf of Mexico which formed siliciclastic sedimentary rocks. In the early Jurassic due to powerful marine transgression, water broke into the present area of the Gulf of Mexico creating a vast shallow pool, the emergence of deep basins in the Caribbean occurred during the Middle Jurassic rifting. The emergence of these marked the beginning of the Atlantic Ocean

33.
Matthew C. Perry
–
Matthew Calbraith Perry was a Commodore of the United States Navy and commanded a number of ships. He served in wars, most notably in the Mexican–American War. He played a role in the opening of Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854. Perry was very concerned with the education of officers and helped develop an apprentice system that helped establish the curriculum at the United States Naval Academy. With the advent of the engine, he became a leading advocate of modernizing the US Navy. Matthew Perry was the son of Sarah Wallace and Navy Captain Christopher R. Perry, Matthew Perry received a midshipmans warrent in the Navy in 1809, and was initially assigned to the USS Revenge, under the command of his elder brother. He continued in this capacity during the War of 1812, Perry transferred to the USS United States, commanded by the legendary Stephen Decatur, and saw little fighting in the war afterwards, since the ship was trapped in port at New London, Connecticut. Following the signing of the Treaty of Ghent which ended the war, Perry served under Commodore William Bainbridge during the Second Barbary War. He then served in African waters aboard USS Cyane during its patrol off Liberia from 1819–1820, after that cruise, Perry was sent to suppress piracy and the slave trade in the West Indies. Later during this period, while in port in Russia, Perry was offered a commission in the Imperial Russian Navy, Perry commanded the USS Shark, a schooner with 12 guns, in 1821–1825. In 1763, when Britain possessed Florida, the Spanish contended that the Florida Keys were part of Cuba, in 1815 the Spanish governor in Havana deeded the island of Key West to Juan Pablo Salas of Saint Augustine. After Florida was transferred to the United States, Salas sold Key West to American businessman John W. Simonton for $2,000 in 1821. Simonton lobbied the U. S. Government to establish a base on Key West both to take advantage of its strategic location and to bring law and order to the area. On March 25,1822, Perry sailed Shark to Key West and planted the U. S. flag, Perry renamed Cayo Hueso Thompsons Island for the Secretary of the Navy Smith Thompson and the harbor Port Rodgers for the president of the Board of Navy Commissioners. From 1826 to 1827 Perry acted as captain for Commodore Rodgers. Perry returned to Charleston, South Carolina for shore duty in 1828, and in 1830 took command of a sloop-of-war and he spent the years 1833–1837 as second officer of the New York Navy Yard, gaining promotion to captain at the end of this tour. He was a member of the Masons, Perry had an ardent interest and saw the need for the naval education, supporting an apprentice system to train new seamen, and helped establish the curriculum for the United States Naval Academy. He was a proponent of modernizing the Navy

34.
Tuxpan
–
Tuxpan is both a municipality and city located in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The population of the city was 78,523 and of the municipality was 134,394 inhabitants, according to the INEGI census of 2005, the municipality includes many smaller outlying communities, the largest of which are Alto Lucero and Santiago de la Peña. A local beachside community is also nearby, Tuxpan or Túxpam, pronounced in Nahuatl, the language of the ancient Aztecs, literally means Place of Rabbits, a compound of tochtli rabbit and -pan place. The city is located on the banks of the Tuxpan River, being the nearest port to Mexico City, Tuxpan is an important commercial link for Mexican imports and exports. Tuxpan is now primarily a port, with emphasis on soybeans. Off-shore links to oil pipelines are used to transfer petroleum products to and from tanker ships operated by Pemex, as part of the Pemex operations and infrastructure in the city, a facility on the river manufactures and maintains oil rigs for use in the Gulf of Mexico. In the 1870s, a colony of some hundreds of former Confederate officers, soldiers. Sometimes referred to as the Puerto de Tuxpan, the port is able to handle supertanker sized cargo ships, due to increasing commercial shipping traffic in the city of Veracruz, Tuxpan is now the headquarters for the Mexican Navys Gulf fleet. As such, it is the port for several military vessels including 3 frigates named Allende, Abasolo. These ships were originally Knox-class frigates built in the 1960s and they were purchased from the US Navy in the mid to late 1990s after their decommissioning. A small museum near the river has photographs and other related memorabilia, niquero Tuxpan municipal government Municipal Official Information Enciclopedia de los Municipios de Mexico

35.
Pacific Ocean
–
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of the Earths oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south and is bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, the Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres. Both the center of the Water Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere are in the Pacific Ocean, the oceans current name was coined by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish circumnavigation of the world in 1521, as he encountered favourable winds on reaching the ocean. He called it Mar Pacífico, which in both Portuguese and Spanish means peaceful sea, important human migrations occurred in the Pacific in prehistoric times. Long-distance trade developed all along the coast from Mozambique to Japan, trade, and therefore knowledge, extended to the Indonesian islands but apparently not Australia. By at least 878 when there was a significant Islamic settlement in Canton much of trade was controlled by Arabs or Muslims. In 219 BC Xu Fu sailed out into the Pacific searching for the elixir of immortality, from 1404 to 1433 Zheng He led expeditions into the Indian Ocean. The east side of the ocean was discovered by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1513 after his expedition crossed the Isthmus of Panama and he named it Mar del Sur because the ocean was to the south of the coast of the isthmus where he first observed the Pacific. Later, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sailed the Pacific East to West on a Castilian expedition of world circumnavigation starting in 1519, Magellan called the ocean Pacífico because, after sailing through the stormy seas off Cape Horn, the expedition found calm waters. The ocean was often called the Sea of Magellan in his honor until the eighteenth century, sailing around and east of the Moluccas, between 1525 and 1527, Portuguese expeditions discovered the Caroline Islands, the Aru Islands, and Papua New Guinea. In 1542–43 the Portuguese also reached Japan, in 1564, five Spanish ships consisting of 379 explorers crossed the ocean from Mexico led by Miguel López de Legazpi and sailed to the Philippines and Mariana Islands. The Manila galleons operated for two and a half centuries linking Manila and Acapulco, in one of the longest trade routes in history, Spanish expeditions also discovered Tuvalu, the Marquesas, the Cook Islands, the Solomon Islands, and the Admiralty Islands in the South Pacific. In the 16th and 17th century Spain considered the Pacific Ocean a Mare clausum—a sea closed to other naval powers, as the only known entrance from the Atlantic the Strait of Magellan was at times patrolled by fleets sent to prevent entrance of non-Spanish ships. On the western end of the Pacific Ocean the Dutch threatened the Spanish Philippines, Spain also sent expeditions to the Pacific Northwest reaching Vancouver Island in southern Canada, and Alaska. The French explored and settled Polynesia, and the British made three voyages with James Cook to the South Pacific and Australia, Hawaii, and the North American Pacific Northwest, one of the earliest voyages of scientific exploration was organized by Spain in the Malaspina Expedition of 1789–1794. It sailed vast areas of the Pacific, from Cape Horn to Alaska, Guam and the Philippines, New Zealand, Australia, and the South Pacific. Growing imperialism during the 19th century resulted in the occupation of much of Oceania by other European powers, and later, Japan, in Oceania, France got a leading position as imperial power after making Tahiti and New Caledonia protectorates in 1842 and 1853 respectively. After navy visits to Easter Island in 1875 and 1887, Chilean navy officer Policarpo Toro managed to negotiate an incorporation of the island into Chile with native Rapanui in 1888, by occupying Easter Island, Chile joined the imperial nations

36.
Norfolk, Virginia
–
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. At the 2010 census, the population was 242,803, in 2015, Norfolk is located at the core of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, named for the large natural harbor of the same name located at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. It is one of nine cities and seven counties that constitute the Hampton Roads metro area, officially known as the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, the city is bordered to the west by the Elizabeth River and to the north by the Chesapeake Bay. It also shares borders with the independent cities of Chesapeake to its south. Norfolk is one of the oldest cities in Hampton Roads, and is considered to be the historic, urban, financial, the city has a long history as a strategic military and transportation point. The largest Navy base in the world, Naval Station Norfolk, is located in Norfolk along with one of NATOs two Strategic Command headquarters. As the city is bordered by multiple bodies of water, Norfolk has many miles of riverfront and bayfront property, including beaches on the Chesapeake Bay. It is linked to its neighbors by a network of Interstate highways, bridges, tunnels. In 1619, the Governor of the Virginia Colony, Sir George Yeardley incorporated four jurisdictions, termed citties and these formed the basis for colonial representative government in the newly minted House of Burgesses. What would become Norfolk was put under the Elizabeth Cittie incorporation, in 1634 King Charles I reorganized the colony into a system of shires. The former Elizabeth Cittie became Elizabeth City Shire, after persuading 105 people to settle in the colony, Adam Thoroughgood was granted a large land holding, through the head rights system, along the Lynnhaven River in 1636. When the South Hampton Roads portion of the shire was separated, one year later, it was split into two counties, Upper Norfolk and Lower Norfolk, chiefly on Thoroughgoods recommendation. This area of Virginia became known as the place of entrepreneurs, the House of Burgesses established the Towne of Lower Norfolk County in 1680. In 1691, a final county subdivision took place when Lower Norfolk County split to form Norfolk County, in 1730, a tobacco inspection site was located here. By 1775, Norfolk developed into what contemporary observers argued was the most prosperous city in Virginia and it was an important port for exporting goods to the British Isles and beyond. In part because of its merchants numerous trading ties with other parts of the British Empire, after fleeing the colonial capital of Williamsburg, Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of Virginia, tried to reestablish control of the colony from Norfolk. Dunmore secured small victories at Norfolk but was forced into exile by the American rebels and his departure brought an end to more than 168 years of British colonial rule in Virginia. On New Years Day,1776, Lord Dunmores fleet of three ships shelled the city of Norfolk for more than eight hours, the damage from the shells and fires started by the British and spread by the patriots destroyed over 800 buildings, almost two-thirds of the city

37.
New Orleans
–
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The population of the city was 343,829 as of the 2010 U. S. Census, the New Orleans metropolitan area had a population of 1,167,764 in 2010 and was the 46th largest in the United States. The New Orleans–Metairie–Bogalusa Combined Statistical Area, a trading area, had a 2010 population of 1,452,502. The city is named after the Duke of Orleans, who reigned as Regent for Louis XV from 1715 to 1723, as it was established by French colonists and it is well known for its distinct French and Spanish Creole architecture, as well as its cross-cultural and multilingual heritage. New Orleans is also famous for its cuisine, music, and its celebrations and festivals, most notably Mardi Gras. The city is referred to as the most unique in the United States. New Orleans is located in southeastern Louisiana, straddling the Mississippi River, the city and Orleans Parish are coterminous. The city and parish are bounded by the parishes of St. Tammany to the north, St. Bernard to the east, Plaquemines to the south, and Jefferson to the south and west. Lake Pontchartrain, part of which is included in the city limits, lies to the north, before Hurricane Katrina, Orleans Parish was the most populous parish in Louisiana. As of 2015, it ranks third in population, trailing neighboring Jefferson Parish, La Nouvelle-Orléans was founded May 7,1718, by the French Mississippi Company, under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, on land inhabited by the Chitimacha. It was named for Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, who was Regent of the Kingdom of France at the time and his title came from the French city of Orléans. The French colony was ceded to the Spanish Empire in the Treaty of Paris, during the American Revolutionary War, New Orleans was an important port for smuggling aid to the rebels, transporting military equipment and supplies up the Mississippi River. Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, Count of Gálvez successfully launched a campaign against the British from the city in 1779. New Orleans remained under Spanish control until 1803, when it reverted briefly to French oversight, nearly all of the surviving 18th-century architecture of the Vieux Carré dates from the Spanish period, the most notable exception being the Old Ursuline Convent. Napoleon sold Louisiana to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, thereafter, the city grew rapidly with influxes of Americans, French, Creoles, and Africans. Later immigrants were Irish, Germans, and Italians, Major commodity crops of sugar and cotton were cultivated with slave labor on large plantations outside the city. The Haitian Revolution ended in 1804 and established the republic in the Western Hemisphere. It had occurred several years in what was then the French colony of Saint-Domingue

38.
Mississippi River
–
The Mississippi River is the chief river of the largest drainage system on the North American continent. Flowing entirely in the United States, it rises in northern Minnesota, with its many tributaries, the Mississippis watershed drains all or parts of 31 U. S. states and 2 Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains. The Mississippi ranks as the fourth longest and fifteenth largest river in the world by discharge, the river either borders or passes through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Native Americans long lived along the Mississippi River and its tributaries, most were hunter-gatherers, but some, such as the Mound Builders, formed prolific agricultural societies. The arrival of Europeans in the 16th century changed the way of life as first explorers, then settlers. The river served first as a barrier, forming borders for New Spain, New France, and the early United States, and then as a vital transportation artery and communications link. Formed from thick layers of the silt deposits, the Mississippi embayment is one of the most fertile agricultural regions of the country. In recent years, the river has shown a shift towards the Atchafalaya River channel in the Delta. The word itself comes from Messipi, the French rendering of the Anishinaabe name for the river, see below in the History section for additional information. In addition to historical traditions shown by names, there are at least two measures of a rivers identity, one being the largest branch, and the other being the longest branch. Using the largest-branch criterion, the Ohio would be the branch of the Lower Mississippi. Using the longest-branch criterion, the Middle Mississippi-Missouri-Jefferson-Beaverhead-Red Rock-Hellroaring Creek River would be the main branch and its length of at least 3,745 mi is exceeded only by the Nile, the Amazon, and perhaps the Yangtze River among the longest rivers in the world. The source of this waterway is at Browers Spring,8,800 feet above sea level in southwestern Montana and this is exemplified by the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the phrase Trans-Mississippi as used in the name of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. It is common to qualify a regionally superlative landmark in relation to it, the New Madrid Seismic Zone along the river is also noteworthy. These various basic geographical aspects of the river in turn underlie its human history and present uses of the waterway, the Upper Mississippi runs from its headwaters to its confluence with the Missouri River at St. Louis, Missouri. The source of the Upper Mississippi branch is traditionally accepted as Lake Itasca,1,475 feet above sea level in Itasca State Park in Clearwater County, however, the lake is in turn fed by a number of smaller streams. From its origin at Lake Itasca to St. Louis, Missouri, fourteen of these dams are located above Minneapolis in the headwaters region and serve multiple purposes, including power generation and recreation. The remaining 29 dams, beginning in downtown Minneapolis, all locks and were constructed to improve commercial navigation of the upper river

39.
Mobile Bay
–
Mobile Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, lying within the state of Alabama in the United States. Its mouth is formed by the Fort Morgan Peninsula on the side and Dauphin Island. The Mobile River and Tensaw River empty into the end of the bay. Several smaller rivers empty into the bay, Dog River, Deer River, and Fowl River on the western side of the bay. Mobile Bay is the fourth largest estuary in the United States with a discharge of 62,000 cubic feet of water per second, annually, and often several times during the summer months, the fish and crustaceans will swarm the shallow coastline and shore of the bay. This event, appropriately named a jubilee, draws a crowd because of the abundance of fresh. Mobile Bay is the place on earth where jubilees are a common occurrence. Mobile Bay is 413 square miles in area and it is 31 miles long by a maximum width of 24 miles. The deepest areas of the bay are located within the channel, sometimes in excess of 75 feet deep. Spanish explorers were sailing into the area of Mobile Bay as early as 1500, the area was explored in more detail in 1516 by Diego de Miruelo and in 1519 by Alonso Álvarez de Pineda. In 1528, Pánfilo de Narváez travelled through what was likely the Mobile Bay area and this response was a prelude to the journeys of Hernando de Soto, more than eleven years later. Hernando de Soto explored the area of Mobile Bay and beyond in 1540, during this expedition his forces destroyed the fortified town of Mauvila, also spelled Maubila, from which the name Mobile was later derived. This battle with Chief Tuscaloosa and his warriors took place somewhere in inland Alabama, the next large expedition was that of Tristán de Luna y Arellano, in his unsuccessful attempt to establish a permanent colony for Spain nearby at Pensacola in 1559. The original settlement of Fort Louis de la Mobile was relocated in 1711 to the head of Mobile Bay following a series of floods, during the American Civil War Mobile Bay was used as a major port for blockade runners bringing in badly needed supplies for the Confederacy. A number of Civil War-era shipwrecks remain in Mobile Bay, including American Diver, CSS Gaines, CSS Huntsville, USS Philippi, CSS Phoenix, USS Rodolph, USS Tecumseh, and CSS Tuscaloosa. Mobiles role as a seaport has continued to the present day, cotton was the chief commodity in the nineteenth century. During the Second World War, Mobiles shipbuilding industry expanded and the population surged. Growth has been rapid since then, the city has endured several devastating hurricanes in its history, the most recent being Hurricane Frederic in 1979 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005

40.
Gulf of Mexico
–
The Gulf of Mexico is an ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. The U. S. states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas border the Gulf on the north, Atlantic and Pacific coasts, or sometimes the south coast, in juxtaposition to the Great Lakes region being the north coast. One of the seven main areas is the Gulf of Mexico basin. The Gulf of Mexico formed approximately 300 million years ago as a result of plate tectonics, the Gulfs basin is roughly oval and is approximately 810 nautical miles wide and floored by sedimentary rocks and recent sediments. It is connected to part of the Atlantic Ocean through the Florida Straits between the U. S. and Cuba, and with the Caribbean Sea via the Yucatan Channel between Mexico and Cuba, with the narrow connection to the Atlantic, the Gulf experiences very small tidal ranges. The size of the Gulf basin is approximately 1.6 million km2, almost half of the basin is shallow continental shelf waters. The basin contains a volume of roughly 2,500 quadrillion liters, the consensus among geologists who have studied the geology of the Gulf of Mexico, is that prior to the Late Triassic, the Gulf of Mexico did not exist. It was created by the collision of plates that formed Pangea. As interpreted by Roy Van Arsdale and Randel T. Cox, geologists and other Earth scientists agree in general that the present Gulf of Mexico basin originated in Late Triassic time as the result of rifting within Pangea. The rifting was associated with zones of weakness within Pangea, including sutures where the Laurentia, South American, first, there was a Late Triassic-Early Jurassic phase of rifting during which rift valleys formed and filled with continental red beds. Second, as rifting progressed through Early and Middle Jurassic time and it was at this time that tectonics first created a connection to the Pacific Ocean across central Mexico and later eastward to the Atlantic Ocean. This flooded the basin created by rifting and crustal thinning to create the Gulf of Mexico. While the Gulf of Mexico was a basin, the subsiding transitional crust was blanketed by the widespread deposition of Louann Salt. Initially, during the Late Jurassic, continued rifting widened the Gulf of Mexico and progressed to the point that sea-floor spreading, at this point, sufficient circulation with the Atlantic Ocean was established that the deposition of Louann Salt ceased. During the Late Jurassic through Early Cretaceous, the occupied by the Gulf of Mexico experienced a period of cooling. The subsidence was the result of a combination of stretching, cooling. Initially, the combination of stretching and cooling caused about 5–7 km of tectonic subsidence of the central thin transitional

41.
Jordi Farragut
–
Jordi Farragut Mesquida, known in America as George Farragut, was a Minorcan-born American naval officer during the American Revolutionary War. He also fought with the Continental Infantry in battles in the South, after commanding a Spanish trading ship in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, he had joined the South Carolina Navy as a lieutenant when the war broke out. He anglicized his Catalan name to George Farragut when he joined the South Carolina Navy, jordi Farragut Mesquida was born to Antoni Farragut and Joana Mesquida in Ciutadella, Minorca. He first went to sea at the age of 10, and he commanded a small vessel that traded goods between Veracruz, Mexico, New Orleans, and ports in the Caribbean, namely Havana, Cuba. He joined his new country at the beginning of the American Revolution, initially as a lieutenant in the South Carolina Navy, Farragut fought the British at Savannah and was captured in the Siege of Charleston in 1780. Farraguts left arm was broken by a cannonball during the fighting in Charlestown, after being released in a prisoner exchange, he fought as a volunteer at the Battle of Cowpens and at Wilmington. He was described by his contemporary George W. Siever as a short, chunky man, very brave, after the war, Farragut married Scotch-Irish American Elizabeth Shine from North Carolina. They moved west to Tennessee, where their son David Farragut was born in 1801, after President Thomas Jefferson bought the Louisiana territory, people were needed to staff the new U. S. port at New Orleans. Many residents of the former French and Spanish city distrusted Anglos, claiborne, a good friend of Farragut’s, became the territory’s first U. S. governor. His recommendation of Farragut resulted in the offer of a new job, in 1805, Farragut rode to New Orleans, and his family followed, in a 1, 700-mile flatboat adventure aided by hired rivermen, the six-year-old James Farragut’s first voyage. The family was living in New Orleans in 1808. There Farragut met David Porter Sr. another navy officer who had served in the Revolution and was living with his son, also named David Porter, the senior Porter was brought to their house one day suffering from sunstroke, and, despite Elizabeths care, he died. The same day, Elizabeth died of yellow fever, George, age 53, made plans to place his young children with friends and family who could better care for them. He was visited by the younger Porter, who thanked him for his wifes care of his father, Porter offered to adopt James and introduce him to a career in the Navy. Soon after, George Farragut bought a piece of property outside of town on the Pascagoula River. Jordi Farragut Mesquida died in Pascagoula, Mississippi on June 4,1817, contribution of Spanish and Latin Americans to the American Revolutionary War

42.
Menorca
–
Minorca or Menorca is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Majorca, Minorca has a population of approximately 94,383. It is located 39°47 to 40°00N, 3°52 to 4°24E and its highest point, called El Toro or Monte Toro, is 358 metres above sea level. The island is known for its collection of stone monuments, navetes, taules and talaiots. Some of the earliest culture on Minorca was influenced by other Mediterranean cultures, for example, the use of inverted plastered timber columns at Knossos is thought to have influenced early peoples of Minorca in imitating this practice. The end of the Punic wars saw an increase in piracy in the western Mediterranean, the Roman occupation of Hispania had meant a growth of maritime trade between the Iberian and Italian peninsulas. Pirates took advantage of the location of the Balearic Islands to raid Roman commerce. In reaction to this, the Romans invaded Minorca, by 121 BC both islands were fully under Roman control, later being incorporated into the province of Hispania Citerior. In 13 BC Roman emperor Augustus reorganised the system and the Balearic Islands became part of the Tarraconensis imperial province. The ancient town of Mago was transformed from a Carthaginian town to a Roman town, the island had a Jewish population. The Letter on the Conversion of the Jews by a 5th-century bishop named Severus tells of the conversion of the islands 540 Jewish men and women in AD418. Several Jews, including Theodore, a rich representative Jew who stood high in the estimation of his coreligionists and of Christians alike, many Jews remained within the Jewish faith while outwardly professing Christian faith. Some of these Jews form part of the Xueta community, when the Jewish community in Mahon requested the use of a room as a synagogue, their request was refused and they were denounced by the clergy. In 1781, when Louis des Balbes de Berton de Crillon, duc de Mahon invaded Minorca, at that time, the Jewish community consisted of about 500 people and they were transported from Minorca in four Spanish ships to the port of Marseilles. The Vandals easily conquered the island in the 5th century, the Byzantine Empire recovered it in 534. Following the Moorish conquest of peninsular Spain, Minorca was annexed to the Caliphate of Córdoba in 903 and given the Arabicized name of Manûrqa, with many Moors emigrating to the island. In 1231, after Christian forces reconquered Majorca, Minorca chose to become an independent Islamic state, the island was ruled first by Abû Uthmân Saîd Hakam al Qurashi, and following his death by his son, Abû Umar ibn Saîd. An Aragonese invasion, led by Alfonso III, came on 17 January 1287, some of the Muslim inhabitants of the island were enslaved and sold in the slave markets of Ibiza, Valencia and Barcelona, while others became Christians

43.
Scotch-Irish Americans
–
While an estimated 36 million Americans reported Irish ancestry in 2006, and 6 million reported Scottish ancestry, an additional 5.4 million identified more specifically with Scotch-Irish ancestry. The term Scotch-Irish is used primarily in the United States, with people in Great Britain or Ireland who are of a similar ancestry identifying as Ulster Scots people and these included 200,000 Scottish Presbyterians who settled in Ireland between 1608-1697. Many English-born settlers of this period were also Presbyterians, although the denomination is today most strongly identified with Scotland, when King Charles I attempted to force these Presbyterians into the Church of England in the 1630s, many chose to re-emigrate to North America where religious liberty was greater. Later attempts to force the Church of Englands control over dissident Protestants in Ireland were to lead to further waves of emigration to the trans-Atlantic colonies, the term Scotch-Irish is first known to have been used to refer to a people living in Northeastern Ireland. In a letter of April 14,1573, in reference to Ulster, Elizabeth I of England wrote, We are given to understand that a nobleman named Sorley Boy and others, who be of the Scotch-Irish race. This term continued in usage for over a century before the earliest known American reference appeared in a Maryland affidavit in 1689/90, today, Scotch-Irish is an Americanism, rarely used in England, Ireland or Scotland. Smaller numbers of migrants came from Wales and the southeast of England, and others were Protestant religious refugees from Flanders, the German Palatinate. What united these different national groups was a base of Calvinist religious beliefs and that said, the large ethnic Scottish element in the Plantation of Ulster gave the settlements a Scottish character. Upon arrival in North America, these migrants at first usually identified simply as Irish, at first, the two groups had little interaction in America, as the Scots-Irish had become settled decades earlier, primarily in the backcountry of the Appalachian region. Many of the new Irish migrants also went to the interior in the 19th century, attracted to jobs on large-scale infrastructure projects such as canals, the usage Scots-Irish developed in the late 19th century as a relatively recent version of the term. The word Scotch was the favored adjective for things of Scotland, including people, until the early 19th century and it was never properly used as a noun. People in Scotland refer to themselves as Scots, as a noun, although referenced by Merriam-Webster dictionaries as having first appeared in 1744, the American term Scotch-Irish is undoubtedly older. An affidavit of William Patent, dated March 15,1689, in a case against a Mr. Matthew Scarbrough in Somerset County, Maryland and it was no more sin to kill me then to kill a dogg, or any Scotch Irish dogg. Leyburn cites the following as early American uses of the term before 1744, another Church of England clergyman from Lewes, Delaware, commented in 1723 that great numbers of Irish have transplanted themselves and their families from the north of Ireland. The Oxford English Dictionary says the first use of the term Scotch-Irish came in Pennsylvania in 1744,1744 W. MARSHE Jrnl,21 June in Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society. 177, The inhabitants are chiefly High-Dutch, Scotch-Irish, some few English families and its citations include examples after that into the late 19th century. In Albions Seed, Four British Folkways in America, historian David Hackett Fischer asserts and it is true that many sailed from the province of Ulster. Part of much larger flow which drew from the lowlands of Scotland, the north of England, Many scholars call these people Scotch-Irish

44.
Tennessee River
–
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once known as the Cherokee River, among other names, as many of the Cherokee had their territory along its banks, especially in eastern Tennessee. Its current name is derived from the Cherokee village Tanasi, the Tennessee River is formed at the confluence of the Holston and French Broad rivers on the east side of present-day Knoxville, Tennessee. From Knoxville, it flows southwest through East Tennessee toward Chattanooga before crossing into Alabama and it loops through northern Alabama and eventually forms a small part of the states border with Mississippi, before returning to Tennessee. At this point, it defines the boundary between two of Tennessees Grand Divisions, Middle and West Tennessee and this waterway reduces the navigation distance from Tennessee, north Alabama, and northern Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico by hundreds of miles. The final part of the Tennessees run is in Kentucky, where it separates the Jackson Purchase from the rest of the state and it flows into the Ohio River at Paducah, Kentucky. The river has been dammed numerous times, primarily in the 20th century by Tennessee Valley Authority projects since the 1930s, a navigation canal located at Grand Rivers, Kentucky, links Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley. The canal allows for a trip for river traffic going from the Tennessee to most of the Ohio River. Maps from the early 18th century call it Cussate, Hogohegee, Callamaco, a 1755 British map showed the Tennessee River as the River of the Cherakees. By the late 18th century, it had come to be called Tennessee, the river was a major highway to transport goods and explorers in the years when Tennessee was not yet settled. Some major towns that still exist today, and major ports at them were established by those who rode down the river, and settled along it. The Tennessee River begins at mile post 652, where the French Broad River meets the Holston River, in the late 18th century, the mouth of the Little Tennessee River was considered to be the beginning of the Tennessee River. Through much of the 19th century, the Tennessee River was considered to start at the mouth of Clinch River, at various points since the early 19th century, Georgia has disputed its northern border with Tennessee. Georgia made several attempts to correct what Georgia felt was an erroneous survey line in the 1890s,1905,1915,1922,1941,1947 and 1971 to resolve the dispute. Crews Townsend, Joseph McCoin, Robert F. Parsley, Alison Martin and Zachary H. Greene, writing for the Tennessee Bar Journal, a publication of the Tennessee Bar Association, appearing on May 12,2008. In 2008, as a result of a drought and resulting water shortage. In a two-page resolution passed overwhelmingly by the senate, Georgia declared that it, not its neighbor to the north

45.
Cavalry
–
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the most mobile of the combat arms, an individual soldier in the cavalry is known by a number of designations such as cavalryman, horseman, dragoon or trooper. The designation of cavalry was not usually given to any military forces that used animals, such as camels. Cavalry had the advantage of improved mobility, and a man fighting from horseback also had the advantages of greater height, speed, another element of horse mounted warfare is the psychological impact a mounted soldier can inflict on an opponent. In Europe cavalry became increasingly armoured, and eventually became known for the mounted knights, in the period between the World Wars, many cavalry units were converted into motorized infantry and mechanized infantry units, or reformed as tank troops. Most cavalry units that are horse-mounted in modern armies serve in purely ceremonial roles, modern usage of the term generally refers to specialist units equipped with tanks or aircraft. The shock role, traditionally filled by heavy cavalry, is filled by units with the armored designation. Before the Iron Age, the role of cavalry on the battlefield was largely performed by light chariots, the chariot originated with the Sintashta-Petrovka culture in Central Asia and spread by nomadic or semi-nomadic Indo-Iranians. The power of mobility given by mounted units was recognized early on, Cavalry techniques were an innovation of equestrian nomads of the Central Asian and Iranian steppe and pastoralist tribes such as the Persian Parthians and Sarmatians. The photograph above left shows Assyrian cavalry from reliefs of 865–860 BC, at this time, the men had no spurs, saddles, saddle cloths, or stirrups. Fighting from the back of a horse was more difficult than mere riding. The cavalry acted in pairs, the reins of the archer were controlled by his neighbours hand. Even at this time, cavalry used swords, shields. The sculpture implies two types of cavalry, but this might be a simplification by the artist, Later images of Assyrian cavalry show saddle cloths as primitive saddles, allowing each archer to control his own horse. As early as 490 BC a breed of horses was bred in the Nisaean plain in Media to carry men with increasing amounts of armour. However, chariots remained in use for purposes such as carrying the victorious general in a Roman triumph. The southern Britons met Julius Caesar with chariots in 55 and 54 BC, the last mention of chariot use in battle was by the Caledonians at the Mons Graupius, in 84 AD. During the classical Greek period cavalry were usually limited to citizens who could afford expensive war-horses

46.
Militia (United States)
–
The militia of the United States, as defined by the US Congress, has changed over time, complicating its meaning. During colonial America, all able-bodied men of certain ages were eligible for the militia, individual towns formed local independent militias for their own defense. The year before the US Constitution was ratified, The Federalist Papers detailed the founders vision of the militia, the new Constitution empowered Congress to regulate this national military force, leaving significant control in the hands of each State government. Unorganized militia – composing the Reserve Militia, every able-bodied man of at least 17 and under 45 years of age, the term militia derives from Old English milite meaning soldiers, militisc meaning military and also classical Latin milit-, miles meaning soldier. The Modern English term militia dates to the year 1590, with the meaning now obsolete. The spelling of millitia is often observed in written and printed materials from the 17th century through the 19th century, the early colonists of America considered the militia an important social institution, necessary to provide defense and public safety. During the French and Indian Wars, town militia formed a pool for the Provincial Forces. The legislature of the colony would authorize a certain level for the seasons campaign. In September 1755, George Washington, then adjutant-general of the Virginia militia, upon a frustrating and futile attempt to call up the militia to respond to a frontier Indian attack. And what added to his mortification was, that the laws gave him no power to correct these evils, either by enforcing discipline, or compelling the indolent, the militia system was suited for only to times of peace. It provided for calling out men to repel invasion, but the powers granted for effecting it were so limited, see New Hampshire Provincial Regiment for a history of a Provincial unit during the French and Indian War. This was far short of the wanted, that the council recommended an immediate application to the New England governments to make up the deficiency. They recommended to the militia to form themselves into companies of minute-men and these minute-men were to consist of one quarter of the whole militia, to be enlisted under the direction of the field-officers, and divide into companies, consisting of at least fifty men each. The privates were to choose their captains and subalterns, and these officers were to form the companies into battalions, and chose the field-officers to command the same. Hence the minute-men became a distinct from the rest of the militia. More attention than formerly was likewise bestowed on the training and drilling of militia, the American Revolutionary War began near Boston, Massachusetts with the Battles of Lexington and Concord, in which a group of local militias constituted the American side. On April 19,1775, a British force 800 strong marched out of Boston to Concord intending to destroy Patriot arms, at 5,00 in the morning at Lexington, they met about 70 armed militiamen whom they ordered to disperse, but the militiamen refused. Firing ensued, it is not clear which side opened fire, eight militiamen were killed and ten wounded, whereupon the remainder took flight

The Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip (April 18–28, 1862) was the decisive battle for possession of New Orleans in …

300 px

One of the "bummers", as they were known in the Union Navy. Mortar Schooner of Porter's Bombardment fleet, New Orleans, 1862. A crewman between the masts is leaning on the muzzle of the 13-inch seacoast mortar.(Peabody Museum of Salem)

An 1817 plan for the fort that would become Fort Jackson in support of Fort St. Philip.

The Siege of Vicksburg (May 18 – July 4, 1863) was the final major military action in the Vicksburg Campaign of the …

"Whistling Dick" was the name given to this specific Confederate 18 pounder because of the peculiar noise made by its projectiles. It was part of the defensive batteries facing the Mississippi River at Vicksburg. On May 28, 1863, its fire sank the USS Cincinnati.

Fighting at the crater at the Third Louisiana Redan

Shirley's House, also known as the White House, during the siege of Vicksburg, 1863. Union troops of Logan's division set about as engineers and sappers to undermine Confederate fortifications but they had to stay under cover for fear of Confederate sharpshooters.

The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the …

Universalis Cosmographia, the Waldseemüller map dated 1507, from a time when the nature of the Americas was ambiguous, particularly North America, as a possible part of Asia, was the first map to show the Americas separating two distinct oceans. South America was generally considered a "new world" and shows the name "America" for the first time, after Amerigo Vespucci

Made in 1529, the Diogo Ribeiro map was the first to show the Pacific at about its proper size

The Battle of Lexington, April 19th, 1775. Blue coated militiamen in the foreground flee from the volley of gunshots from the red coated British Army line in the background with dead and wounded militiamen on the ground.

New York State militia, Civil War Company "E", 22nd N.Y. State Militia, near Harpers Ferry.